Glasgow Rangers released Kyle Lafferty by mutual consent in the summer after a tough second spell at Ibrox.
Rangers may have endured a miserable day as they contested the first Old Firm game of the season, but Steven Gerrard’s men can still take a lot of optimism into the international break after a very bright start to the campaign.
The Gers are into the group-stages of the Europa League, and the Scottish Premiership title race will almost definitely still have a number of twists and turns before the trophy’s destination is decided later this term.
But there is no question that it was a hugely disappointing day for the Light Blues. And it also proved to be an incredibly bad day for their former striker Kyle Lafferty as he made his debut for new club Sarpsborg.
The Northern Ireland international left Rangers by mutual consent in the summer after a tough second spell at Ibrox. He ended up in Norway and got the chance to make his debut for his new club against Viking on Sunday.
It looked to be going perfectly for the 31-year-old as his side took a 2-0 lead inside an hour, with Magnar Odegaard scoring one and setting up Mustafa Abdellaoue for their second.
However, the afternoon then unravelled for Lafferty. He had been booked inside the first two minutes, and he was sent off with just over 20 minutes remaining.
What made things worse for the striker is that Viking then scored twice in the final five minutes of the game to secure a draw.
With Alfredo Morelos and Jermain Defoe in fine form in recent months, it was always unlikely that Rangers would be made to rue the decision to let Lafferty go after he scored just five times in 24 games following his return. And, while Gerrard’s men did suffer an agonising loss on Sunday, Lafferty’s debut makes it seem even more unlikely that the Gers will have any regrets about parting ways.
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