ANDREW Davies, the Ross County captain whose first half goal earned his side a deserved 1-1 draw against Rangers yesterday, last night predicted the Ibrox club will be punished if they continue to play “risk football” this season.
Mark Warburton’s side took an early lead in the Ladbrokes Premiership match at the Global Energy Arena in Dingwall when Clint Hill netted at a Josh Windass corner in just the sixth minute.
However, Jim McIntyre’s team, who are currently languishing in bottom spot, recovered from that early setback well, drew level through Davies and could have won if they had converted one of several chances they created late on.
The result meant that Rangers, who have now won just five of their 12 league games in the 2016/17 campaign, failed to reclaim second place in the top flight table from Aberdeen, who had defeated Partick Thistle 2-1 at Firhill on Friday night.
Warburton demands that his team build play gradually from the back rather than clearing the ball upfield to safety – but Davies believes they will struggle against the better sides in the top flight if they continue with that game plan.
“I believe that Rangers have got some good flair players, they’ve got some players who can really attack,” he said. “But, defensively, the way they organise themselves, I think they’re open.
“When you look at Aberdeen and Hearts, they’re very solid, not open. With Rangers, they give you chances. Against good teams, they’ll get punished. We should have punished them today, but we didn’t. That’s where I rank them.
“Yeah, they keep trying to pass their way out. That’s obviously how their manager wants them to play. But it’s risk football. They are taking risks in bad areas of the pitch. That’s how it looked.
“Some teams sit off them and they’ve looked really good. I think if you press them, like we pressed them, you get rewards. I feel that defensively you can get at them, I really do.
“Obviously they’ve got fantastic players. They are all quite comfortable when they have no pressure. But are they good enough to deal with the ball under that sort of pressure?
“We knew they were open at the back before the game. They have got some really good players going forward. You have got to be really careful. But at the back I think that’s where their weakest point is.
“If our final ball or final shot had been just that little bit better today I don’t see why we couldn’t have won the game 2-1 or 3-1. It was a good performance from the boys. I am really proud of them.”
Davies added: “We have watched videos. The manager is very organised before games. He has us drilled on everything they do, what they’re good at, what they’re not good at. That’s full credit to him, he has watched them.
“Even in the first half, they took a lot of chances. They are a very good team so you have got to give them respect, but they will concede goals.”
Warburton, whose team had only moved into second spot in the league with the 3-0 win over Kilmarnock at Ibrox eight days previously, felt that Hill had been blocked by his Ross County counterpart Jay McEveley at the equaliser.
However, former Middlesbrough, Southampton and Stoke City defender Davies felt his opposite number could have done better. “That’s just corners,” he said. “You’ve got to say that, for his goal, I’ve got to be stronger - and when I score he’s got to be stronger.
“If someone tries to block you, you’ve got to move him out of the way. If I get blocked, I always look at myself and say I should have been stronger.”
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