Ange Postecoglou described Thursday night’s draw at Rangers as “an arm wrestle kind of game” with not many chances, but was ultimately pleased with the character we showed to come away from Ibrox with a point.
The Scottish side took the lead just after half-time through Hamza Igamane and had us on the ropes for a while but we responded well to conjure up a superb team goal finished off by Dejan Kulusevski to make it 1-1 with 15 minutes left.
We needed Fraser Forster to make an excellent late block to divert Cyriel Dessers’ shot behind but overall we were worthy of what Ange felt was a valuable point as the league stage of the Europa League heads towards its crucial latter stages.
> Obviously they scored and that gave us a little bit of a mountain to climb, but good character from the boys to get us back in the game and we hung on the end.
Here’s what Ange had to say to us after the game...
_How do you reflect on the outcome and performance?_
Ange: “Yeah, look, a tough game. It always is, away from home in Europe, and particularly venues like this. It was an arm wrestle kind of game, not a lot of clear-cut chances, obviously they scored and that gave us a little bit of a mountain to climb, but good character from the boys to get us back in the game and we hung on the end, great save by Fraser. In the context of our European season, it’s an important point.”
_What about the spirit and character shown by these players, particularly by someone like Brennan Johnson who has featured in our last 55 games in a row?_
Ange: “That’s no secret at the moment. We’re down in numbers, so we’re relying on a core group of players and, for the most part, they all chipped in and worked as hard as they could. We had to rotate the team a bit and rest a few tonight, but thankfully they all go through okay and will be available for the weekend.”
_And similarly, the character we showed to keep going and get back into the game..._
Ange: “Yeah, it was important. It’s not a place an easy place to come back from being a goal down with the atmosphere and the energy that the crowd would create. But the lads hung in there, we scored a good goal, had a couple of other chances as well. Like I said, in the context of our European season, it’s a really important point.”
_And we have another important game on Sunday against Southampton in the Premier League..._
Ange: “They’re all big games for us now. We’ve got a long trip back and then we’ve got to get the guys to recover but everyone got through unscathed and that was really important. Now we get ready for a big one on Sunday.”
Watch | Ange speaks after Rangers draw
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