'All on the same page' - Rangers star reacts to Vaclav Cerny fan spat as Ibrox crowd expectation demand set

Irate Rangers fans made their feelings known towards Vaclav Cerny for playing a backwards pass during Sunday’s narrow 1-0 victory over Hibs - but Ibrox team mate Kieran Dowell has offered his take on why the winger decided to bite back at supporters.

The Czech Republic international drew the ire of the Ibrox crowd for going into reverse while in possession with the match still firmly on a knife-edge and Dowell reckons a long week for the on-loan Wolfsburg ace was to blame for his decision-making.

Ex-Norwich City star Dowell understands there will always be a demand for Rangers to play on the front foot, no matter the circumstances. However, on this occasion, he could understand Cerny's thought-process.

Dowell stated: “Obviously after a tough week, going to Malmo in midweek, it was one of those games that you have to grind out in the end. There were a lot of tired legs. Credit to a lot of the lads, they had to put in a shift this week. Like I said, it was all about grinding out the results and we did that in the end.”

Asked if summer signings, such as Cerny, need to become accustomed to the demands of the club’s fanbase, Dowell replied: “I don't know, I don't know. I think maybe in the moment, he's probably had a long week himself. He might have felt a bit leggy and thought, ‘I can't do that one,’.

“But we all know coming to this club that the demand is to play forward and try and score goals and attack. I think that the manager is of the same mindset as that. So I'm not sure what happened with Vaclav, maybe it was just a moment in the game, but we're all on the same page that we want to go forward whenever possible.”

Quizzed on whether Rangers need to adopt a more ruthless, relentless approach to winning games, Dowell added: “Yeah, I think so. I think since the manager has come in, that's the way he wants to play football.

“But again, on Sunday there were times where he probably felt he just needed to get a bit more control of the game in their half. So it's different options for different moments in the game. But yeah, definitely at this club, that's what you want to be doing.”