DAN THE MAN
Barry Ferguson on the unseen role Danilo played in Rangers semi-final triumph
But he's revealed why he feared the worst at half-time
RANGERS weren't exactly firing on all cylinders for 90 minutes against Motherwell on Sunday.
But they made it to the Premier Sports Cup final in the end - in no small part thanks to their second half performance and the impact of their subs.
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And one man who played a key part in getting Gers over the line at Hampden was someone who didn't actually score on the day.
Barry Ferguson pointed out the contribution of Danilo, who came on in the 67th minute for Cyriel Dessers, has gone largely unnoticed.
In particular, how his subtle movement helped create the space for Vaclav Cerny to pass the ball to goal scorer Nedim Bajrami.
Speaking on Go Radio, Ferguson said: "I just thought, like Danilo for instance coming on, if you look at Bajrami's goal, I know it's a good pass by Cerny and a good finish but it's actually Danilo that makes the goal.
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"His run, that's a movement. It's a movement that takes the central defenders away and it allows Cerny to slip that pass into Bajrami.
"So it was certainly better in the second half. But you shouldn't need to wait until the second half to put these performances on.
"I said it on Friday, the Aberdeen performance for talking sake. I had to see that from minute one. You know what you were doing against Aberdeen and the performance was well below par."
Bajrami's strike came in the 81st minute but at half-time, Ferguson admits he feared the worst.
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Having seen how badly his old team struggled against Aberdeen earlier in the week, he felt there were similarities in the approach to the game against Motherwell.
He said: "I was concerned, being at the game.
Robert Grieve reacts from Hampden after Rangers' win over Motherwell
"I was worried at half-time, I'll be honest with you.
"I had seen it a few days previous to that up at Pittodrie where the first half performance was pretty similar, very poor.
"And they came out in the second half and was it better? Yeah, it was. Did the substitutions make a difference? Yes, they did."
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