Glasgow Rangers ended their months-long wait for a win in the Scottish Premiership thanks to a last-gasp strike from Max Aarons on Sunday afternoon.
The loan defender popped up in stoppage-time to find the bottom corner with a fantastic finish from Nicolas Raskin’s corner to claim all three points for the away side.
Russell Martin’s side had four draws and one defeat on the board from their first five matches in the Premiership before Sunday’s match, which is why Aarons’ goal was so important.
Despite picking up all three points, there were several players who may not come away from the game being pleased with their individual showing, including captain James Tavernier.
How James Tavernier performed against Livingston
The Rangers skipper will rue the fact that he failed to make it 2-0 from the penalty spot in the first half when he put his spot-kick down the middle, making it relatively easy for Jerome Prior to leave a leg out and block.
The English defender, who failed in three of his four attempted dribbles (Sofascore), will be disappointed that his penalty gave the goalkeeper a chance to keep it out.
Tavernier did, however, score the opening goal of the game with a terrific acrobatic finish from Oliver Antman’s cross to put Rangers 1-0 up early on, which may allow supporters to forgive him for the penalty miss.
Meanwhile, Bojan Miovski was even worse than the captain will be thankful that Aarons saved him from being blamed for a loss of points if the Gers had drawn the game.
Why Bojan Miovski should be dropped
The summer signing from Girona was selected to lead the line for the Light Blues ahead of Youssef Chermiti, after the £10m signing from Everton started the 1-0 defeat to Genk.
Football FanCast have suggested moving to a 4-4-2 against Sturm Graz with both Miovski and Chermiti for the Europa League clash with Sturm Graz on Thursday because of Mohamed Diomande’s suspension, but the left-footed striker should be dropped for the trip to Falkirk.
Rangers travel to Falkirk in their next Premiership match next Sunday and Martin must ruthlessly ditch the Macedonia international from the XI with the favoured 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation, because he did not do enough as the lone marksman in the win over Livingston.
|
Vs Livingston |
Bojan Miovski |
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
90 |
|
Goals + assists |
0 |
|
Shots |
2 |
|
Big chances missed |
2 |
|
Dribbles completed |
0/3 |
|
Duels won |
2/12 |
|
Key passes |
0 |
As you can see in the table above, the Rangers number 28 was completely dominated by the Livingston defenders, losing ten of his 12 duels and failing with all three of his attempted dribbles.
On top of his incredibly lightweight play out of possession for the Scottish giants, the former Aberdeen star also spurned a glorious chance to find the back of the net in the first half.
Miovski, as shown in the clip above, was clear through on goal with the chance to score his first Premiership goal for the club, but blazed his effort well over the bar. Prior had committed and was already going the other way, which meant that the striker only had to keep his effort down and he would have been celebrating the opener.
The Gers forward was even worse than Tavernier, who won eight duels and scored the opening goal, and should now be dropped for the trip to Falkirk next weekend, providing Chermiti with a chance to lead the line.
Miovski may have been saved from bucket loads of criticism for his performance by Aarons scoring the winner, but he may not escape being dropped from the starting XI in the league.
