Rangers preparations for Hibs match were 'all over the place' as Connor Goldson absence explained

Happy to pick up all three points in his league debut as Rangers boss, Michael Beale believes there is still work to do as he seeks to kickstart the Ibrox side’s title challenge.

Rangers manager Michael Beale salutes the fans during the 3-2 win over Hibs at Ibrox. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Going behind twice in the early stages of the match to a Hibs side that was quick to counter and determined in defence, the Govan gaffer said he was pleased with his players’ character.

“I’m wondering if I fired them up a little bit too much…maybe I spoke with too much emotion to them before the game and they went and played that way. We played a friendly at the weekend and played really good football and you think you’re maybe a little bit further ahead.

“Coming back in I knew there had to be a little bit of time to get it where I wanted. The first half showed me I have lots of work to do.

“The group to be fair to them have had a lot of change in the last few months. The one thing I would say is they showed really good character in the second half. They started winning the duels.”

There had been some last minute reshuffling of personnel but he was pleased that they still found a way to pass the test set by Lee Johnson’s side.

“We lost Leon [King] this morning. He hadn’t slept all night with this sickness bug that’s going around. James Tavernier was off with it earlier in the week and so was Scott Wright. That wasn’t ideal because we lost [Antonio] Colak to a tight calf right at the end of training yesterday and they were both starting.

“You spend two weeks building it, everything is calm, and the last 24 hours have been a little bit all over the place. I had to ask John [Lundstram] to play out of position and he got on with it and did it.

“Connor [Goldson] has trained for two days and Ben Davies has trained for three. So I have to be careful because they have both been out for a long period of time. If you asked Connor Goldson he would probably have wanted to play tonight but with what we’ve got coming up I have to be careful.”