Glasgow Rangers clinched a win in Steven Gerrard’s first competitive game at Ibrox.
A number of Rangers fans took to Twitter to comment on the performance of summer signing Ovie Ejaria following the Liverpool youngster’s competitive debut for the Gers in their Europa League victory over Shkupi at Ibrox.
With the painful memories of 12 months ago still lingering in the background, Rangers would have felt a slight sense of unease ahead of the first-leg of their first round qualifier against the Macedonian side, especially with the optimism that has been built during Steven Gerrard’s first summer in charge of the Light Blues.
It was not a flawless display from Rangers, but they take a 2-0 lead into the second-leg thanks to a first-half strike from Jamie Murphy and a penalty in the final moments from James Tavernier.
With the number of new signings in Gerrard’s squad, it was always going to be a surprise if the Gers took their opponents apart, especially as – barring a couple of exciting runs forward – Shkupi seemed to be fairly content to ensure that they kept things tight and kept the score down heading into the rematch next week.
But several of the new signings gave the Ibrox faithful reasons for encouragement, and Ejaria – who became Rangers’ fourth signing of the summer after joining on loan from Liverpool – was certainly one player who did impress the Gers fans.
The 20-year-old was brought on with just over 20 minutes to go and seemed to take little time to get into the game. The midfielder looked very confident on the ball and was more than happy to try and run with it when he got the chance. There were also some nice pieces of close control that hint that he may be someone who could create some excitement during his year in the Scottish Premiership.
Here is what some of the Rangers fans made of the Liverpool loanee…
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