Glasgow Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty was not needed to start against his former club.
The scene appeared set for Glasgow Rangers Kyle Lafferty to haunt former club Hearts yesterday.
Rangers swooped for their opponents’ star striker in August, bringing Lafferty ‘home’ to Ibrox.
Instead of unleashing Lafferty against his former club, Rangers left him on the bench.
It was a bold call from manager Steven Gerrard, and a clever one.
He kept with in form forward Alfredo Morelos, hot from his Europa League brace three days earlier.
Hearts would have been preparing to face Lafferty, and Rangers were on top from the beginning, 3-0 up by half-time.
As well as being a clever call on the day, leaving Lafferty out was a show of strength from Rangers.
It highlighted the depth Steven Gerrard’s side possess while they cut the gap on the league leaders.
Rangers remain in sixth place after teams around them also won this weekend, but crucially they have cut the gap between themselves and leaders Hearts to five points.
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