RANGERS EASED THE pressure on under-fire boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst with a commanding 4-1 comeback win over Aberdeen at Ibrox.
Connor Barron drove the visitors ahead in the 21st minute but the Light Blues responded with goals before the break from returning striker Antonio Colak and midfielder John Lundstram.
Skipper James Tavernier headed in a third in the 51st minute before hitting the post with a penalty just before the hour mark with substitute Alfredo Morelos adding a late fourth for a convincing victory.
Van Bronckhorst went into the game under increasing scrutiny after his side slipped four points behind cinch Premiership leaders Celtic last weekend and being booed at the end of a second home game running when they drew 1-1 with Livingston.
A demoralising Champions League campaign had continued on Wednesday night with a 3-0 defeat by Napoli but Rangers demonstrated their domestic desire and this time there were cheers at the final whistle.
It was quite an afternoon in Govan.
The unchanged visitors, who arrived third in the league, pressed from the first whistle but Rangers played their way through with purpose with attacker Fashion Sakala, back in the side along with Colak, knocking a Ryan Kent cross over the bar.
There was a groan around Ibrox in the sixth minute when Rangers left-back Ridvan Yilmaz went to ground clutching his hamstring after blocking a cross on the byline and he was replaced by Borna Barisic with the fans noting another addition to the club’s lengthy injury list.
In the 20th minute Colak’s shot from distance drew a decent save from Aberdeen goalkeeper Kelle Roos but then came the Dons stunner.
Luis Lopes turned young defender Leon King three times inside the box and the visitors claimed for a penalty when Tavernier put in a challenge but Barron wasted no time in firing the loose ball past keeper Allan McGregor.
The home fans urged their side forward in response and former Rangers player Ross McCrorie cleared an attack off the line but just as the frustrations begin to build, Rangers equalised.
Malik Tillman took a pass from Lundstram and squared for the prolific Colak to sweep his shot low past Roos from 16 yards for his 14th goal of the season.
Aberdeen came under pressure. Roos blocked a shot from Sakala after Colak had split open the Dons defence and amid a frenetic game there was also an ignored Rangers penalty claim when the ball appeared to strike the hand of Liam Scales.
But with seconds remaining of the first half, a cleared Barisic free-kick fell to Tavernier whose drive from the edge of the box was parried by Roos.
Rangers defender Ben Davies knocked the ball back from a tight angle for Lundstram to hammer high into the net.
Davies was replaced by midfielder Scott Arfield for the start of the second half with James Sands moving back to defence.
The match continued at a breathless pace and the home side increased their lead when Tavernier climbed above Aberdeen defender Jack MacKenzie at the back post to head in a Barisic cross.
There was a VAR check in the 57th minute after the ball appeared to hit the hands of Jayden Richardson inside the box and after checking his monitor referee Nick Walsh pointed to the spot with Tavernier striking the post with his effort.
Rangers kept up the pressure and in the 73rd minute Arfield’s side-footed shot was cleared off the line by Leighton Clarkson.
Then Morelos, who replaced Colak, had the ball in the net but was ruled offside after a VAR check and after tapping in from a Sakala cross in the 86th minute, after a longer VAR check, this time the goal stood.
A big decision to hand the reins over to a guy who’s never held a head coach role, only coached for a year, and the bulk of current players trained alongside him less than two years ago. Hopefully doesn’t backfire.
This will all end in tears.
Wish Leo all the best. Journalists and pundits go on about Leinster fans demanding entertaining rugby but I never heard one fan demand that. What Leinster fans did demand was a competent head coach with a clear gameplan and players able to perform basic skis well. This didn’t happen under MOC. It was clear the players were confused going onto the pitch and subsequently they made basic errors. Leo can’t be any worse than MOC. Nevertheless that’s a fair bit of bull#%t from Mick Dawson about Leo being the best candidate. Leinster were turned down by other candidates and Leo was the last man standing. Let’s hope he’s a Franz Beckenbauer and not a Steve Staunton.
Have faith – he’s made of the right stuff.
will leo be used as the escape goat for all the best players heading to France., yes.
Mick Dawson claims all the stakeholders were considered, so basically he doesn’t consider the Leinster supporters as a stake holder in the clubs future.
We have suffered for the last two seasons and deserved a coach with at least a spark or a buzz about him.
Brian O’Driscoll always say he learned so much from joe about the game and that was coming from one of the worlds best players at the time. How many Leinster backs will come away from Leo’s reign and say the same.
The common sense deal was a one year deal and extend it if the first year goes well.
If this was a one year deal I’d have a real good feeling about this season.
Saying all that I truly hope that Leo proves me wrong and that no matter what we can’t be as bad as last year.
Added to that I’m delighted kurt is back full time.
You expect Leinster Rugby to consult the fans when deciding a new head coach do you?
It’d certainly be a novel approach from a pro sports team.
Will this decision prolong the like of boss reddan Darcy etc ( the old men and best mates brigade) and stunt even more the progress of youth? Or will Leo be clever enough to realise that he really had a free shot this season to really have a go and bring players through.
No I don’t but Dawson comes out with this bull that all the major stakeholders were consulted and their views taken on board.
Robson, does this mean you’re finished trolling the Munster articles and have moved onto the Leinster ones? Well, we welcome you with open arms……that are locked and loaded.
Paul Sheehan’s tears
Escape goat…. Ha!
Does anyone know of another professional sports team who has a coach and mascot with the same name?
They were, Leinster fans aren’t ‘major stakeholders’ in the decision process to choose a new head coach.
I wish him well, but I also remember what ROG said about one of the reasons he went coaching in France was because he didn’t feel that as a coach that he would have had the necessary separation from the players who he had previously played with. It’s not going to be easy to move from being one of the lads to telling them what to do and he’ll be doing it in a much higher pressure environment than the average workplace.
Best of luck to him, good to see Irish coaches get their opportunity
Really interested to see how Dempsey does with the backs, always seemed to have the Leinster A team playing entertaining rugby which he can hopefully bring back to Leinster.
Best of luck Leo.
Hopefully he’s given a fair shot without too much bull from fans and media.
Could not have been handed a harder challenge in his first season in charge.Majority of the squad off to the world cup and a horrendous ERCC pool. Wish him well. Hopefully the media and some of the fan’s will have realistic expectations and give him some slack if results don’t go his way this year.
Great to see Irish coaches in Irish jobs!
win win, Leinster get a cheap head coach, Cullen gets an extra €50 a week on top of his dole
Where’s Joan Bruton to announce Jobsbridge latest roll.
Matt O Connor knew how to defend but not much else. I fear that will continue under Leo’s reign but we’ll wait & see. It is what it is now anyway, so let’s be true supporters and get behind him the players. COYBIG
And you boys in blue too! Oops! (World cup on the brain…) :-D
Jimmy Matt didn’t know how to defend. If you looked at Leinster last year there were at least 10 games that we were winning going into the last quarter and we ended up either losing or drawing.
It’s just not true that he knew how to defend.
You never mentioned your disapproval with MOC once last season Chris why now?
Ps.joke
James I wanted to give moc an extension of another two years, purely to brighten up our country cousins but mick Dawson wanted to put a dampener on that.
Moc the best coach we ever had
Matter of opinion I s’pose. When MOC took over, we lost our attacking prowess and never got it back. And we couldn’t build up a lead or hold one on the rare occasion we did. That’s why we couldn’t finish off games or losing it in the last quarter. Anyhoo, that’s in the past, onwards & upwards with Leo.
A Leinster man through and through and will be a great head coach. Best of luck to him and his squad.
Re rookie coaches: When Franz Beckenbauer was appointed coach of the German soccer team in 1984 he not not only didn’t have any coaching experience, he didn’t even have a coaching licence. So according to the rules, he should have never been given the job. Two years later under Beckenbauer Germany reach the WC semifinals; 1990 they win it. Leo Cullen is similarly an exceptional talent. According to Bernard Jackman his forte is man management and leadership. They are the most important abilities a head coache must have. The technical stuff Girve, Richie Murphy, John Fogarty and Kurt McQuilkin can take care of. Best of luck to Leinster’s new coaching “regime”. Arise and follow Leo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For every franz Beckenbauer there’s a Steve “I’m the gaffer” staunton.
A one year deal to be extended should have been issued.
We have suffered for the past two seasons and a gamble such as this if it goes belly up will mean at least 4 seasons of regression.
I am going to get behind Leo after I calm down and build on the positives ( and there are loads ) but I don’t think a 2 year gamble at this stage is the Crieff decision.
Keep it positive, Chris!!!
Let me get over the shock Riocard. I’ll get behind Leo soon enough.
Maith fear! COYBIB!!!
Lonestar I’d like to think I had something to do with it but I’m afraid his inability to do the job he was paid for was why he got sacked.
jaysus the negativity is dumbfounding. he’s been in a supporting role for a yr, he can see what the issues are and knows what’s required. He has a good supporting cast, Kurt signing for 2 yrs is great news. girv gets a shot with the backs, if it doesn’t work our bring in higher profile for 2nd half of season. its fairly clear leinsters hands were tied as no one high profile wanted the job. Leo short on experience but tainting him with any aspect of last season, including forwards, may be wide of the mark as we don’t know the circumstances or directives he was working under. How great will it be if it works out? leinster developing their own Liverpool, bootroom style, succession planning
This never works
About time…. Le-o, Le-o, Le-o
No better man Leo!
Ah there’s quite a few better men in fairness.
Have to say this sounds brutal. 3 times European Champions with a rookie coach. For some bizarre reason I am getting the old “Ireland don’t want to win the Eurovision” feeling again.
This will not end well.
Very true Aaron, I dunno is it because leinster are struggling to attract a top coach or whether they are just willing to take a risk with big Leo but either way I could think of 10 better and more suitable coaches for the job
In fairness Joe was a rookie coach when Leinster took him on and look at home now, he’s possibly the best coach in the world, definitely in the northern hemisphere at least. We got it wrong with O’Connor but maybe he was, on paper, the safe bet back then, maybe a bold move is what we need. Best of luck to him. A leinster man who knows leinster rugby with good men of the old guard behind him who also know how things were run in the good times. This could go very very well. It could also be a disaster but I choose to be optimistic! ;-)
@bazhealey I’m flummoxed! The “Old Guard”? What are you talking about. Cheika won our first cup. Leinster until then were considered a joke in European rugby. Capable of beating anyone but absolutely no consistency. He is doing exactly the same thing with the Australians at the moment.
In order to become champions you have to have a champion coach. The logic behind O’Connor’s appointment was sound. However he was put in the position where his style definitely didn’t suit that of Schmidt’s. I think it was proved definitively last year that Player Power should never be a factor in the appointment of a coach. Yet again we have been given quotes by the team that they are behind Leo. The reality is that if we want to win another European Championship we are going to need the best coach we can get and I can tell you now it is definitely not Leo.
Joe was far from a rucky coach he had coached in New Zealand and Clermont where he was highly regarded. The difference between Cullens and Smiths path to leinster head coach couldn’t be more different.
Hope he was paying attention during all Schmidt’s coaching sessions and video reviews.
i saw him at the big grill festival on Sunday. We are besties now
congrats to Cullen.. as a Munster fan will be interesting to see how he gets on..
Not convinced by this at all. Cullen just doesn’t have the experience for this job.
Leo Cullen has captained every team for which he has played including his country. In that role he would have interacted with coaches, selectors and trainers over the many years he played. I wish him and the team the very best for the coming season which will be difficult due to the demands of the WC. He has a good coaching team around him and a great squad of players to pick from.
Best of luck to Leo. Hopefully they recruit a high profile backs coach post RWC also. Someone that can act as a mentor to him the way Gaffney did for Cheika at Leinster and the Warratahs. Someone like Ex Wallabies and Reds Super Rugby winning attack coach Jim McKay would be excellent. He’s with Tonga for the RWC
Delighted with this appointment. Long may Leo reign!
In Leo what we have is a very intelligent passionate Leinster man, I wish him and Kurt (defensive coach) all the best. What seriously miss fired last season was our use of the ball in attack… so for me Girvan as backs coach ( if I’m right) will bear the mosw pressure from the supporters who demand high quality finishing from our backline
I don’t agree with Leinster Rugby’s very premature appointment of Leo Cullen as head coach, but the proven and impressive Kurt McQuilkin will be the most crucial man for Leinster over the next two years (along with Richie Murphy arguably, who as a coach has worked closely with Joe Schmidt over the past few years and would have learnt a good deal from him), in terms of his input as a member of the coaching team and on the training field.
The extension of Kurt McQuilkin’s stay from an initial three-month contract to a two-year contract is the one, small silver lining from today’s coaching announcement from Leinster Rugby.