Michael Beale looking for Kemar Roofe to kick on after scoring return

The striker bagged a goal in his first start for 16 months

Published 26th Aug 2023

Michael Beale is looking for Rangers striker Kemar Roofe to kick on after his first start in 16 months brought the opener in the 2-0 cinch Premiership win over Ross County in Dingwall.

Despite the recruitment of nine players this summer, the Light Blues manager spoke on Friday about the 30-year-old striker and attacker Tom Lawrence being key his plans this season.

The former Leeds player, who has been troubled by injury problems during his time at Ibrox, repaid that faith after 22 minutes with a close-range finish.

Skipper James Tavernier scored a terrific second four minutes later and there was a further boost when Lawrence, out for a year with a knee injury, came on in the second half.

Beale said: "We see Kemar every single day so we know what he has been through. We know he is a leader, he has had some issues and not been able to help us.

"He has been out for a long, long time and he was able to play and score, that is a good trait to have.

"Let's hope he can stay fit and it was nice to see Tom Lawrence back as well.

"Those two guys have seen a lot and they will help the dressing room at a time when we have a lot of new guys coming in."

The victory sets Rangers up for the second leg of their Champions League play-off game against PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night with the tie sitting at 2-2 from the first leg at Ibrox.

Gers boss is optimistic about the trip to the Netherlands to play a side Rangers beat at the same stage of the tournament, after a 2-2 draw at Ibrox was followed by a 1-0 away win.

He said: "It is a really tough challenge because I think they are a high quality team with a quality coach, but we will go there and give it a right go. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain, I feel.

"They know we can score against them. They know our football club and everything about it.

"We are not a secret…sometimes I wish we were. We obviously played them last year and we put a good face to our club in the way we approached the game, the way we were resilient.

"We did the same in midweek. I thought it was clear they were a good team but I thought we fought, harassed, we run we pressured them, we gave them big problems in terms of our speed and pressing. It is important we do the same in midweek.

"I think there will be big spaces on the pitch because they will certainly come for us. It is important that when we get our opportunities we take them."

After losing 4-2 to Celtic on the opening day of the season, before beating St Johnstone 2-0, Staggies boss Malky Mackay was let rueing a big Jordan White chance against Rangers, when he headed wide at the start of the second half.

The County boss said: "We have a great chance with Jordan with a header. On another day that takes it down to a goal.

"It puts a little bit of pressure on Rangers in terms of any slip or mistake then becomes a draw.

"You have to take your chance against the Old Firm.

"A couple of weeks ago at Parkhead we did get chances, we should have taken our good chances. Rangers took their half chances, the two goals they scored were half chances. They had other chances as well but they were clinical."

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.

--

Rangers Top Scorers

Ally McCoist

Ally McCoist scored 355 goals in his 581 appearances for Rangers between 1983-1998.

Bob McPhail

Bob McPhail scored 261 goals in all competitions for Rangers between 1927-1940.

Jimmy Smith

Jimmy Smith scored 249 goals in between 1930-1946.

Jimmy Fleming

Fleming scored 220 goals between 1925-1934.

Derek Johnstone

Derek Johnstone scored 210 goals for Rangers in his 549 appearances for the club. He played from 1970-1983, then again in the 1985/86 season.

Ralph Brand

Brand scored 206 goals in all competitions from 1954-1965.

Willie Reid

He scored 195 goals between 1909-1920.

Willie Thornton

Thornton scored 194 goals for Rangers between 1936-1954.

Robert C. Hamilton

Hamilton scored 184 goals in his 164 appearances. He played from 1897-1908.

Andy Cunningham

He scored 182 goals in his 350 appearances. Cunningham played from 1915-1928.