Rangers head coach Barry Ferguson says he saw ‘heart and desire’ on the pitch at 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 whirlwind 48 hours after replacing Philippe Clement by celebrating as the travelling fans chanted his name.
Ferguson is now demanding his players continue to show the same fight as they did after going behind to strikes from Joe Wright and Brad Lyons, for the rest of the season.
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Cyriel Dessers’ great goal put Rangers 3-2 ahead against Kilmarnock
“I’m not going to get over-excited. It was good, but there’s a lot of things we need to improve on and the guys know it as well,” the 47-year-old told Sky Sports.
“They’ve been under that scrutiny, but they’ve got the heart and the desire.
“I wouldn’t have taken the job if I didn’t think I could get something out of them. They showed a different side to them tonight.
“I’m not going to get carried away, it’s only one game. They now need to take that into Saturday because they’re at home and if it’s like after 10 minutes the crowd start to get on you a wee touch.
“They need to learn to deal with these situations. Spending the last 24 hours with them, I think they realise that situation now.”
Clinton Nsiala was subbed after 30 minutes at Rugby Park
After starting with the same starting XI as cost Clement his position with a 2-0 defeat to St Mirren, Ferguson hooked Clinton Nsiala after a struggling half-an-hour at Kilmarnock.
“At times during a game when things are not going your way, you have to make tough decisions,” Ferguson added.
“Clinton’s young, he’ll recover from it, but I just felt at that stage we had to make the change and obviously it worked for us.
“We started to control the game, we started to probably relax a wee bit.
“I thought we were a bit tense, but their confidence has been quite low so you have to be careful with that.
“I told them they’re playing at a brilliant club, there are expectations and demands on you and you need to handle these, and I thought they handled it, the last 10-15 minutes of the first half and certainly the second 45, they were excellent.”
What the pundits said
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Barry Ferguson’s Rangers came back from 2-0 down to take all three points against Kilmarnock in his first game in charge
The Sky Sports’ pundits discussed Ferguson’s debut in the Rangers dugout:
Former Rangers captain Steven Davis:
“Absolutely brilliant, I think the first half an hour he’d [Ferguson] be really disappointed with but certainly after that there was a great reaction from the team.
“They’ll be absolutely delighted to get the win. It’s no easy feat coming from two goals behind here at Kilmarnock, so he’ll go home a happy man.”
Former Rangers forward Kris Boyd:
“I think after that first half an hour, you’re thinking, ‘where is this going to go?’ and then all of a sudden, it turns out it’s the same problems that Rangers have faced all season.
“You’ve got to give credit 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 second half, they totally dominated it and I think you can be pleased with the performance after 30 minutes but the same questions are still going to be asked, Rangers are very, very vulnerable at set plays.”
Former Scotland striker James McFadden:
“He’s been brought in to try and reconnect the team with the supporters and lift the whole mood. The way the game panned out actually probably couldn’t have been better to come from two goals down.
“As much as he wouldn’t have wanted to have to come from two goals down, these fans have certainly enjoyed it.
“We spoke at length about how little time Barry Ferguson’s coaching staff had to work with the players and then Barry spoke about how he wanted his team to play, and the ultimate aim from him is to win games.”
Rangers’ upcoming fixtures:
- March 1: Motherwell (H) – Scottish Premiership
- March 6: Fenerbahce (A) – Europa League last-16
- March 13: Fenerbahce (H) – Europa League last-16
- March 16: Celtic (A) – Scottish Premiership, live on Sky Sports
- March 29: Dundee (A) – Scottish Premiership, live on Sky Sports
