VACLAV CERNY might just turn his social media accounts back on today.
The Czech came offline on Friday morning as angry fans gave him pelters for missing the sitter of sitters against Lyon the night before.
But as he strode off to a huge ovation here with 18 minute to go and a double under his belt, all was forgiven.
Whether manager Philippe Clement will be feeling the same about comeback man Ianis Hagi?
That’s another matter.
The Romanian was roared to the rafters by a 44,000 Ibrox crowd from the moment he came out to warm up and again when he sprinted on as a half-time sub.
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Yet ten minutes from time, his dream return from 13 months in Ice Station Govan turned to a nightmare when he crashed in on Benjamin Kimpioka and was shown a straight red.
Where that leaves him after seeming to be back in the gaffer’s good books is anyone’s guess – but Cerny’s definitely off the naughty step for now after the two excellent finishes that eased his side to three points and kept them five points off 100 per centers Celtic and Aberdeen.
And boy, did Rangers need those goals. Because if daytime in Glasgow had been all about The Great Scottish Run, this was very much The Great Ibrox Trudge.
On one side, Clement’s men desperately trying to shake off the hangover of that 4-1 dismantling by the lightning-fast French outfit. On the other, Saints still reeling from a 6-0 home humping at the hands of Celtic and setting out to frustrate.
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In the end, both kind of got their way, because despite another defeat the Perth side will feel an awful lot better about themselves this morning than they did last weekend.
Rangers? They’ll just feel relieved to have ticked off another run of the mill win.
Seven minutes in, Cyriel Dessers had done the kind of thing that – for a striker with 30 goals in 52 starts – he does so often and so inexplicably, heading high wide when standing unmarked from James Tavernier’s pinpoint left-wing corner.
On 16, Tavernier had licked his lips when Sven Sprangler tripped Mo Diomande dead centre and a couple of yards outside the box. His whipped right-foot effort skimmed the ball and rattled the back stanchion, with plenty behind the goals thinking it had gone in.
Then, with 25 gone, Diomande had wheeled onto a through ball and looked certain to score until centre-back Jack Sanders slid to make a fantastic block.
But those openings apart, Saints had looked organised and calm. They’d come to frustrate and the ever-growing groans around Ibrox told you they were doing their job.
Then again, they’d done the same to Celtic the week before, keeping the scoresheet blank for 35 minutes before the roof started falling in.
Here, they made it to 34 before the opener they’d dreaded flew past keeper Ross Sinclair.
It was a terrific strike, too – and a huge moment of redemption for Cerny as he skipped in off the right and looked up to arrow left-foot beyond the helpless keeper and in at the base of his right-hand post.
The relief in his celebrations was there for all to see.
Until then, the biggest roars had been for Hagi’s name being read out pre-match and then when he was sent out to warm up 20 minutes in, jogging along with Connor Barron, stood down after a chastening night against the lightning-fast French three nights before.
As the teams re-appeared for the second half, though the pocket-dynamo midfielder sprinted on for Diomande – and up went the roars once more as Hagi then emerged in place of Ross McCausland.
New Saints boss Simo Valakari, watching from the stands because his work permit hadn’t been rubber-stamped meanwhile, had sent the message down to get Cammy MacPherson and Adama Sidibeh on for Drey Wright and Sprangler.
If the personnel changed, however, both the pattern of play and the quality of Rangers as an attacking force stayed precisely the same.
Seven minutes in, Cerny made ground before finding Dessers in space 12 yards out, but the striker managed to run beyond the ball and the chance was lost.
So what did the winger do next time?
He took it on himself and scored his second of the night.
MacPherson gave the ball away in his own half, Hagi was onto it in a flash before a feeding a pass through to the Czech, who this time jinked onto his right before firing across Sinclair.
There was no way Rangers were losing this one now. Yet still there were nerves around the place, with hands thrown up as young Mackenzie Kirk broke in from the right and smashed a shot that Jack Butland blocked with his legs, before Nicky Clark found the net only to be denied by a VAR offside call.
That wasn’t the biggest decision the guys back in the studio had to make, though.
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No, that came from Hagi left Kimpioka – himself just back from a four-game ban for violent conduct – in a heap and whistler Dickinson decided it was only worth a booking.
Next thing, his finger went to his ear, he jogged to the touchline. And as boos rang round the stands, Hagi slumped back to the doghouse.
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