Ranger’s head coach Barry Ferguson says he saw ‘heart and wish’ on the field in Rugby Park as they staged a dramatic comeback to win 4-2.
The former iBrox captain, who won 15 trophies as a player, ended a Virvevind 48 hours after replacing Philippe Clement by celebrating as the travelers fans sang his name.
Ferguson now demands that his players continue to show the same match they did after going behind strikes from Joe Wright and Brad Lyons, for the rest of the season.
“I don’t want to be overlooked. It was good, but there are a lot of things we need to improve and guys know too,” the 47-year-old told Sky Sports.
“They have been under this control, but they have the heart and wanted.
“I wouldn’t have taken the job if I didn’t think I could get something out of them. They showed a different page than them tonight.
“I don’t want to be carried away, it’s only a game. Now they have to take it in Saturday because they’re home and if it’s like after 10 minutes, the audience will start coming on you a little touch.
“They have to learn to deal with these situations. Spends the last 24 hours with those I think they are aware of that situation now.”
Clinton Nsiala was subbed after 30 minutes at Rugby Park
After starting with the same start XI as costs Clement his position with a 2-0 defeat against St Mirren, Ferguson Clinton Nsiala hooked after a fighting half hour on Kilmarnock.
“At times during a game where things don’t go your way, make hard decisions,” added Ferguson.
“Clinton’s young, he wants to recover from it, but I just felt at the time we had to make the change, and of course it worked for us.
“We started controlling the game, we probably started to relax a little bit.
“I thought we were a little tense, but their confidence has been pretty low, so you have to be careful about it.
“I told them they are playing at a brilliant club that is expectations and requirements for you and you have to deal with these, and I thought they handled it, the last 10-15 minutes of the first half and determined the second 45 they were excellent.”
What pundits said
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Barry Fergusons Rangers came back from 2-0 down to take all three points against Kilmarnock in his first game of responsibility
Sky Sports’ Pundits discussed Ferguson’s debut in Rangers Dugout:
Former Rangers -Captain Steven Davis:
“Absolutely brilliant, I think the first half an hour he had [Ferguson] Really be disappointed, but definitely after that was a big reaction from the team.
“They will be absolutely happy to get the victory. There is no easy achievement coming from two goals behind here at Kilmarnock, so he goes home a happy man.”
Former Rangers Forward Kris Boyd:
“I think that after the first half an hour you think, ‘where’s this going?’ And then suddenly it turns out that these are the same problems that Rangers have faced the whole season.
“You have to give the honor to the players that Barry Ferguson obviously made the substitution, brought on Yilmaz, moved a few players around, and then you’ve seen Rangers click and get a good goal just before half time.
“The other half they completely dominated it and I think you may be happy with the performance after 30 minutes, but the same questions will still be asked, rangers are very, very vulnerable on sets of theater pieces.”
The former Scotland -striker James McFadden:
“He has been brought in to try to connect again with the supporters and lift the whole mood. The way the game panned in fact probably couldn’t have been better to get from two goals down.
“As much as he wouldn’t have wanted to get down from two goals, these fans have certainly had it.
“We talked in the long run about how little time Barry Ferguson’s coaching staff had to work with the players, and then Barry talked about how he wanted his team to play and the ultimate goal from him is to win games.”
Rangers’ upcoming fixtures:
- 1. March: Motherwell (H) – Scottish Premier
- 6. March: Fenerbahce (A) – Europa League Last -16
- 13 March: Fenerbahce (H) – Europa League Last -16
- 16 March: Celtic (A) – Scottish Premi- Live on Sky Sports
- 29 March: DUNEEE (A) – Scottish Premiership, Live on Sky Sports