STEVEN Gerrard last night described Scott Wright’s second-half performance for Rangers in the Europa League play-off match against Alashkert at Ibrox as “superhuman”.

But the Scottish champions’ manager admitted he was so disappointed with his side’s first-half display against their Armenian rivals that he was unable to talk about it.

And he has told his players, who ground out a 1-0 win after John Lundstram had been sent off for a second bookable offence just before half-time thanks to an Alfredo Morelos goal, the improvement has to come from “within the dressing room”.

Asked by Rangers TV for his thoughts on his side’s performance, Gerrard said:  “I will look back on it. I will watch it really closely.

“I thought some of the lads’ efforts tonight were superhuman. I think our supporters will know who I’m talking about – Steven Davis, Calvin Bassey, Scott Wright when he came on. Connor Goldson did everything we asked. I thought a lot of individuals, especially in the second-half, were superhuman.

“In terms of our performance collectively it was so far away from how I wanted it to look in the first-half. It is difficult for me to comment on that.

“In the second-half, the fans stayed with us. I thought their performance was superb. And we showed fight, we showed desire and we showed that we wanted to play here in front of a superb crowd.

“We showed that in the second 45 minutes. But the first-half was so far away from how I want it to look and how I need it to look it is difficult to go into too much detail.”

Asked specifically about Wright, who came on for Ryan Kent at half-time, Gerrard was glowing in his praise.

“I thought he was outstanding,” he said. “I thought his effort was superhuman. He ran for the team, he didn’t play with any ego, everything we asked him to do he did it and more.

“That’s what gets these fans to take to you. I am sure these fans tonight will be ever so proud of Scott Wright because his effort was superhuman. It was tough for him. He was chasing shadows for the sake of the team, he was selfless. But I am so proud of Scott Wright after tonight’s performance.”

Gerrard is keen to avoid a repeat of the first-half display against Alashkert in the second leg of the play-off in Armenia and told his players they have to prevent it happening again themselves.

“We know how to do this because we’ve got experience of doing this before,” he said. “At half-time the players listened to the information we have them and we went out and carried it out. I am sure the fans appreciated their efforts in the second-half.

“But in the first-half? Honestly, it was so far away from how I want it to look and how far away I need it to look.

“Look, we have won the game and it’s a clean sheet. We will go over and we will try and qualify and try and get through this. But moving forward it needs to come from within the dressing room now.

“I have told them what I feel and what I see. I have been as honest as I can with them. I think where we are just now we need it to come from within the dressing room.”