RANGERS opened up the new Scottish Premiership campaign with victory at Aberdeen this afternoon – with boss Steven Gerrard looking back on the win “with pride.”
The Light Blues gaffer watched on as Ryan Kent netted a first-half winner in a game his side dominated from start to finish.
He was also thrilled with the clean-sheet on Leon Balogan’s debut, although called on his team to, where possible, kill off opponents with further goals going forward.
He told RangersTV postmatch at Pittodrie: "I thought the players, to a man, right throughout the team, were outstanding today.
"It is another clean sheet which has to be our foundation. Clean sheets will take us to where we want to go, but I think to a man everyone has come to a difficult place today and performed ever so well.
"The only thing, if you're picky, is we need to go and take games away from teams - so at 1-0, can we go and get that second goal?
"Ash Taylor has obviously made a fantastic clearance at the end - but, we still looked the most dangerous team.
"I thought Aberdeen stayed in the game and pushed us hard for the win, but I thought we thoroughly deserved it."
Gers came flying out the blocks and still looked fresh towards the end to see the game out with a minimum of fuss.
Gerrard was asked if that was the hard fitness work paying off, and he responded: "I have said many times, Jordan Milsom gets them tuned-in and fit and I still think we can get fitter - we still need more games and more training together.
"I want to try and get some new faces in the door to help us over the course of the season, but I thought in the first half we took our pre-season form into the game.
"We looked dominant at times and we looked dangerous at times.
"The second half wasn't as pretty, but, at times, we are going to have to be tough, stick together and get over the line and put our bodies on the line like Leon did at the post.
"So I am very proud of the all-round performance - it wasn't perfect, but it's certainly something to build-on and the three points were the most important thing today to get a good start."
Balogan on his debut was massively impressive, and on him, Gerrard continued: "You don't win anything without [warriors], that's why I like them. I love number 10s, I love people that shine, I love skills, I love people that entertain, but you need leaders, you need warriors and you need people who are going to put their body on the line.
"I thought we saw both sides of our game today - we played some lovely football, but, when we had to dig deep and when we had to stick together, and when we had to put our bodies on the line, everyone, to a man, delivered.
"For Leon's debut, away at Pittodrie, being in the door a week, it was outstanding and I am very pleased for him.
"He got a round of applause in the dressing room which was thoroughly deserved." It’s on then to Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League on Thursday, with the manager adding:
"We deserve this opportunity to still be in the tournament. Obviously with Covid-19, we preferably would have wanted to play closer to the time, but it wasn't to be.
"But we deserve to still be in the tournament and we still have a fighting chance. We are going there to try and cause an upset - we understand the difficulty of the challenge, but whilst we have Rangers badges on, you never give up."