Glasgow Rangers extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to eight matches with a 3-0 win away at Ross County in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
The Light Blues remain 11 points adrift of Celtic at the top of the table but have closed the gap between themselves and Aberdeen down to two points, with a game in hand.
Hamza Igamane and Danilo scored the goals in the first-half to give the away side a comfortable lead, before James Tavernier sealed all three points in the second half.
It was another impressive performance from Igamane on the left wing, who has now scored four goals in his last four matches in all competitions.
Hamza Igamane's performance against Ross County
The 22-year-old whiz opened the scoring for the Gers in the first-half with a terrific strike, aided by a deflection, from the edge of the box after Jefte’s set to him from the left.
He did not hesitate to pull the trigger from range, without even taking a touch to set himself, and earned his luck with the deflection to find the back of the net.
Igamane also completed three of his four attempted dribbles and created one ‘big chance’ for his teammates in the game, which shows that he offered a threat in transition and as a creator, to go along with his goal.
However, it was not a perfect performance from the youngster, as he only completed 66% of his attempted passes and lost possession a staggering 22 times.
Performance in Numbers
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The real star of the show for Philippe Clement, and player who produced a complete performance against Ross County, was central defender Leon Balogun.
Why Leon Balogun was the star for Rangers
The experienced Nigeria international did not score and was not directly involved in any of the three goals for Rangers, yet he was the hero for the manager with his monstrous display at the heart of the defence.
Whilst Igamane let himself down at times with his loose touches and passes, Balogun only lost possession nine times from 78 touches and completed 84% of his passes, which speaks to how reliable the defender is on the ball.
The 36-year-old veteran, who was selected alongside John Souttar ahead of summer signing Robin Propper, was also almost faultless with his defensive work throughout the game to prevent the home side from causing Rangers too many problems.
Clearances
4
10
Interceptions
1
3
Tackles made
0
7
Ground duels won
0/0
8/9
Aerial duels won
1/1
4/7
As you can see in the table above, Balogun was incredibly dominant for Rangers and carried his centre-back partner in the match, making nine more tackles and interceptions and winning 11 more duels.
The Nigerian titan led the match in clearances, duels won, and tackles made, which illustrates just how impressive his work out of possession was for the Scottish giants.
Ross County only created one ‘big chance’ in the game and that was, in large part, down to the brilliance of Balogun, who combined quality on the ball with incredibly defensive strength out of possession, and that is why he was the real hero for Clement.
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