Rangers 5-0 blast of Hearts gives BBC Sportscene pundit flashbacks of ‘horrible place to be’
Rangers benefited from the Ibrox crowd to get off to a fast start in their win against Hearts as the home support made it an impossible environment for the visitors, says Richard Foster.
The pundit spoke from personal experience on BBC Sportscene (24 February) to call it a “horrible place to be” when the Gers support gets the team firing from the kick off, as happened in the 5-0 win with Mohamed Diomande opening the scoring in just the second minute.
Host Steven Thompson highlighted the link between the supporters and the current set-up under Philippe Clement compared to the end of Michael Beale’s doomed tenure, and Foster said it works both ways.
Thompson said (7.49pm): “They’ve got a lot of options now but I think the thing that’s really pleasing Philippe Clement is the connection between the supporters and the players, the team, the staff, because that had gone completely at the end of Michael Beale’s tenure and it’s now back bigger than ever.”
Foster replied: “Yeah, you win games, the fans are going to be onside. You put in performances like today, the fans are going to be on your side. But I think it goes both ways. The fans were up for the game right from the very start so it allows Rangers to get a fast start and they just feed off each other.
“I’ve been there against Rangers at Ibrox when they start quickly. It’s a horrible place to be and it’s really, really tough to even hear your teammates, let alone settle down and play a good game.”
Ibrox fans drive Rangers to turn Hearts over after Mohamed Diomande opener
The relationship between the team and the fans is one of give and take, but thanks to Clement there has been plenty to respond to of late.
Even in the context of turning the title race on its head the scale of this win was unexpected and suggested the Belgian has the players fully focused on the task at hand.
The SPFL title is far from in the bag but after dominating the in-form third-placed side confidence is inevitably growing, with the likes of Michael Stewart now admitting they might be hard to stop.
That the performance was delivered despite Todd Cantwell joining and extensive injury list is all the more impressive, and the fact that all three of the manager’s January signings, Diomande, Oscar Cortes, and Fabio Silva, all scored and played a key role is further vindication of his methods.
So much focus was on signing a striker in January, and to an extent Cyriel Dessers still managed to show why, but up against the prime candidate in Lawrence Shankland Rangers were unstoppable, with the players on the pitch in perfect sync with the fans in the stands currently.
In other Rangers news, a Light Blues star told Tom English the one thing he was unhappy about after footage of a fan confrontation emerged.
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