Rob Kiernan has come under fire from many Glasgow Rangers fans due to his form this season, and unfortunately, he did little to prove his doubters wrong on Wednesday.
Rangers’ Rob Kiernan in action with Celtic’s Moussa Dembele
Whether the level of criticism thrown at Rob Kiernan from Rangers fans has been fair or not, the centre-back should have looked at Mark Warburton’s departure as the perfect opportunity to salvage his Ibrox career and prove a point to whoever the next manager will be.
Unfortunately for the 26-year-old, his display against St Johnstone would have surely done nothing positive to his chances of turning his fortunes around with the Scottish Premiership side.
The most obvious mistake that Kiernan made was the sending off towards the end of the second-half. It was certainly a bizarre, and arguably needless, challenge to make given that Graham Cummins was in a wide area near the halfway line, and it nearly proved very costly.
Rangers were 2-1 ahead at the time and went on to concede an equaliser with three minutes of the 90 left. Had Emerson Hyndman not found a stoppage-time winner, it seems likely that the criticism of Kiernan may have ascended to another level.
But it was not just the sending off which saw Kiernan let himself down. It was seemingly his poor marking that led to St Johnstone getting a free header in the centre of the goal six yards out – though fingers were pointed in all directions following the chance. Luckily, the opportunity was not taken and the header went wide.
And for the away side’s first goal, Kiernan appeared to stand off David Wotherspoon as he received the ball inside the box – though others did close the ball down, so perhaps Kiernan’s stance was intentional – and his attempt at blocking the ball saw him misinterpret where the strike was going so badly that it looked as if he was trying to get out of its way as it headed for the back of the net.
Kiernan has played well at times since moving to Rangers – he played regularly during their Scottish Championship title winning season – and it could definitely be argued that he has, somewhat unfairly, been made a scapegoat in a season that few of the players will remember fondly, but this performance was certainly one that would have done little to help his chances of turning things around.
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