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‘Became a man’: Rangers boss Gerrard hails Ibrox star who impressed against Slavia
Filip Helander scored the vital away goal and Allan McGregor will steal the headlines thanks to his stunning late stop, but there was another man who earned plaudits for his performance on Thursday night.
It’s been a memorable few weeks for Nathan Patterson, who last month looked like he may struggle to carve out a future at Ibrox after being investigated for a breach of Covid-19 protocols.
Having issued an apology on , he was included in Steven Gerrard’s lineup for the Europa League round of 32 second leg against Royal Antwerp at Ibrox.
After coming on at half-time for the injured Leon Balogun, Patterson incredibly scored his first goal for Rangers just 16 seconds into the second period.
He built on that with an impressive display in the last 16 against Slavia Prague, and made a superb tackle in the box towards the end.
Speaking on after the match, Gerrard hailed the 19-year-old and suggested that he had grown in stature.
He said: “What you’ve got to take into consideration is everyone connected to the club has had a real emotional week.
“So to give to the game in terms of effort and application I’m so proud of the players.
“Nathan epitomised that. I thought he was really strong.
“He became a man tonight, I think, and there’s plenty more appearances for him, for us moving forward after his suspension is done.
“So yeah, we’re really pleased with him.”
Asked what he felt the catalyst was for his side’s improved performance in the second half, Gerrard replied: “We tweaked it. We went two upfront, and we played with one number 10 behind two.
“And I just thought it gave us that opportunity to play down the sides of their centre-backs and we felt that they’ve got some weaknesses that we’ve spotted tonight, and some vulnerabilities, and we want to try and be a little bit more positive next week to exploit them.”