MICHAEL BEALE was delighted that Rangers secured three points after their 3-0 win over Motherwell at Ibrox this evening, but the manager admits he was frustrated with his side’s overall performance.
Goals from Alfredo Morelos, Connor Goldson and Malik Tillman gave the Light Blues their fourth league win on the bounce, and the boss spoke to RangersTV after the final whistle.
He said: “It was a pleasing result. I thought it was a frustrating performance but the two things that pleased me were the three points and another clean sheet. It is important that we start collecting them as much as we can.
"As well as Adam [Devine] has done, and he has been outstanding in the three games, we have missed that balance of having Borna and he comes back and within 10 or 15 minutes he shows everyone what we have been missing. It was a fantastic cross.
"We started the match quite slowly. Motherwell had a number of crosses and free-kicks and corners in that first 10 or 12 minutes so it was nice to go up the other end and score with probably our first attack of the game.”
After Morelos had opened the scored with a powerful header from Barisic’s superb assist, Goldson doubled his side’s advantage with another excellent header from an Alex Lowry corner kick with 39 minutes on the clock.
Beale continued: “It was nice for him to score that. I'm expecting him to go and get five or six more between now and the end of the season. Ben has got to chip in as well.
“It's important that in those moments we are effective. It's been an area, set plays, where we have underperformed this season so it was nice to go and score one this evening."
Malik Tillman completed the scoring with a terrific finish after the hour mark, which allowed the Gers manager to make a number of substitutions prior to Monday’s Old Firm showdown.
He added: “It was nice to rest some players and make some changes. There have been one or two who have been playing while under the weather and they have maybe not been 100 per cent. But it was a good finish from Malik and he's been in fine form really, both in terms of his goals and assists, so I'm delighted for him.
“But we had some honest words at half-time. It was nice to go in at half-time 2-0 up, but I can't say I was enjoying the game, but tonight the big positive was the three points and then we move on to the next one.
"It was also nice to have that back four back together. I think on paper it looks a strong back four. It looks like it needs some work together to be honest, it has not played together enough this season, but it's nice to have them all fit and healthy and another clean sheet.
That's two on the bounce now for Connor and Ben so hopefully they can keep that moving forward.”
There was concern for the gaffer and his coaching staff on 69 minutes when Morelos walked off tentatively and was replaced by Rabbi Matondo.
When asked about the injury, the manager explained: "I believe it's just a tight hamstring so hopefully that is the case. Antonio and Kemar are back in training but we didn’t want to take risk with them tonight, to give them four or five more days in their legs in terms of physical work.
“So let’s hope Alfredo is okay, but we do have those two waiting in the wings as well."
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