Former Rangers striker Kris Boyd believes that Rangers’ disappointing 2-2 draw with Aberdeen may be a “blessing in disguise” ahead of the Betfred Cup Final.
The former Ibrox forward was speaking after Rangers threw away a two-goal lead in Pittodrie and dropped two points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership title race.
Boyd believes that it could be a timely wake-up call to the Ibrox side and a reminder that they need to be on their game for 90 minutes to get anything against Celtic.
“If we go back to the first Old Firm this season Rangers were playing so well and some people thought Rangers could go in and steamroller Celtic and it went the other way,” said Boyd [Sky Sports].
“Maybe this result at Pittodrie tells us that Rangers need to be performing at a level consistently, they need their big players to stand up.
“Steven Davis, Ryan Jack, Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent – you need them to be performing because if you drop below that then you are going to get punished.
“It might just be a good result here – not in terms of the league – but for Sunday looking forward to that, Steven Gerrard can deliver the message of ‘if we are not on it then we are going to get punished again’.
“It might be a blessing in disguise here. They will still be raging that they dropped the points in the league but for the cup Gerrard can use this.
“He can refer back to this and you would think that Rangers would learn from their second-half performance.”
Boyd’s comments are little solace for what was a bitterly disappointing evening for Rangers fans.
Now two points behind Celtic after throwing away a lead at Pittodrie, the club may well have to rely on taking something at Parkhead in December.
Can Steven Gerrard use this disappointment to gee up his players ahead of Sunday’s crunch Old Firm Final?
