WHEN Rangers were held by Kilmarnock and St Johnstone last month, Steven Gerrard demanded a reaction from his under-pressure players.
Winning their next three - against Killie, Hamilton and Dundee - and scoring 14 goals without reply in the process was just what Gerrard, and fans, would have had in mind.
Now Rangers face an even bigger, and the most important, test when they travel to Pittodrie tomorrow afternoon and bid for a Scottish Cup semi-final berth.
READ MORE: Rangers boss Steven Gerrard: Neil Lennon is the sensible move for Celtic
It is a challenge Ibrox captain James Tavernier is confident they can rise to and overcome.
Tavernier said: “Without showing any complacency we’ve shown great consistency in the past three games and we’ve got to take that into this game and try and keep the ball rolling with the intensity that we’ve shown in the games. We know what is required to do it so it’s just a case of the boys knowing what to do for four games.
“It’s the best squad I’ve played with since I came here so I’m really enjoying it at the minute.
“Obviously we are keeping quite a few cleans sheets which is always pleasing as a defender, it’s always the main aim to try and keep a clean sheet. Now we’ve stepped up on the far end and we’re scoring plenty of goals. Earlier in the season we maybe weren’t creating good enough chances but in the past three games we’ve shown signs that when we create good chances we’ll put them in the back of the net.”
Rangers lacked a spark in their two stalemates last month as they were forced to settle for a cup replay and dropped two crucial Premiership points.
But Gerrard’s side have found their scoring touch in their last three outings as chances have been created and goals have been shared around the side.
READ MORE: Kris Boyd: Trip to Tenerife is to work out winless run
A storming first half on Sunday was too much for Hamilton, while Dundee were beaten inside 23 minutes at Ibrox on Wednesday.
Tavernier said: “That’s key, we need a good start and not to chase the game at any point - we know Aberdeen are a really good opponent and dangerous players so we don’t want to be chasing the game, we want to be out of the blocks really quickly.
“We’ve shown those signs in Europe too and in certain games, such as Celtic, when we came out the blocks quickly.
“It’s disappointing we’ve not shown it more consistently as a theme in our play. It’s really pleasing to see the boys over the last three games reaping the rewards from starting quickly in the last three games.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here