By Sheryl Ritchie
Ibrox gave a warm welcome to returning hero Shane Duffy! Surprisingly, the Ulsterman played a competent first half – cheered to every touch by the home crowd – before he was substituted at halftime.
The first half would provide some decent if uneventful entertainment. Itten had a chance cleared off the line and Balogun had a decent header on target from a Kelly cross.
Scotty Arfield – captain for the first half – had a shot over the bar.
Just after the hour mark more changes were made with Defoe, Sakal and Barasic coming on for Bassey, Itten and wright.
Just before that John Lundstram had a fine shot off the upright on the left of the pitch with a thunderbolt set up by Patterson and Itten’s work.
In 79 minutes Hagi had a goal disallowed after a fine bit of work where he stole the ball and worked his way into a shooting position for a rifled shot – but play was called back for an earlier foul.
Shortly thereafter Sakala put Defoe through and he won a corner. From the corner by Tavernier the ball overshot but was circuitously worked around the pitch – back to Tavernier whose cross found Defore for a glancing header which went wide.
Overall it was a competent pre-season workout without many memorable incidents.