Glasgow Rangers strolled to another straightforward Premiership win this afternoon at Ibrox.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side thrashed St Mirren 4-0 to record their third consecutive league victory, and this will give the Gers a confidence boost with a busy few weeks approaching.
A tap-in from Antonio Colak following a Borna Barisic shot, and later a James Tavernier penalty gave the Light Blues a nice two-goal cushion at half-time, and Van Bronckhorst would surely have urged his team to embellish the goal difference in the final 45 minutes.
Two more goals were added in the second half but it took the Light Blues until the final quarter-hour of the match to score them. Colak netted his fourth league brace of the season while Fashion Sakala repaid Van Bronckhorst with a nice finish to round off the win.
It was a solid team performance and the Dutchman will surely be very pleased with Sakala’s display, especially considering that it was his first league start of the campaign.
Sakala stole the show against St Mirren
The Zambian came off the bench against Liverpool in midweek, and despite playing for just 24 minutes at Anfield, he completed 100% of his passes, took one shot and caused general unpredictability in the Rangers attack.
This cameo prompted Van Bronckhorst to start him against St Mirren, and he was arguably the finest player on the pitch.
Sakala received a SofaScore rating of 8.8, the joint highest on the pitch alongside Colak, while scoring the fourth goal and providing the assist for the Croatian’s second. He also created a further big chance and played one key pass during his time on the pitch, giving the team a different attacking outlet.
Former Rangers defender Alan Hutton once described the Zambian as a “firework”, and the 25-year-old certainly displayed this trait today as he showcased his wonderful dribbling ability, completing 100% of his attempted dribbles while winning nine of his 13 duels.
His dynamism and attacking nature stood out and this display would certainly have boosted his confidence following a slow start to the season.
In fairness, the forward has only featured for a total of 225 minutes in all competitions this season, but with Liverpool visiting Ibrox on Wednesday night in the Champions League, he may have justified a spot in the starting XI.