Joe Rothwell urges Rangers to kill off Panathinaikos tie

Powys County Times

2 days ago

Joe Rothwell believes Rangers have to consider themselves in the box seat going into their crucial Champions League qualifier against Panathinaikos next Wednesday.
The 30-year-old midfielder, signed from Bournemouth this summer, made his Gers debut in the 2-0 win over the 10-man Greek side at Ibrox on Tuesday night.
Russell Martin's men struggled for the most part before decisive goals from 19-year-old Findlay Curtis and debutant Djeidi Gassama, either side of Panathinaikos right-back Giorgos Vagiannidis receiving his marching orders after picking up the second of two yellow cards for a foul on Curtis.
Ahead of the second leg in Athens – which follows a friendly against Middlesbrough at Ibrox on Saturday – Rothwell was asked if the Light Blues can feel in command of the tie.
'I think we have to now, yeah,' he said.
'Obviously, 2-0, it's a good scoreline, especially in this format.
'So we'll go out there and obviously we won't be looking to defend it. We'll try and go out there and win the game and score as many goals as we can.
'It (2-0 win) can be huge. I think he (Martin) said in his press conference, it was not going to be a season-defining game but we wanted to go out there and put a show on and really show how he wants to do things.
'I think we managed to do that, controlled the game as we like to do and just a bit disappointed that we didn't go and probably kill the game off a little bit more.'
The Light Blues should have been behind before Curtis opened the scoring in the 52nd minute, with Martin having to settle his new charges down at the interval before an improved performance in the second half.
Rothwell said: 'He said to just stick to what we do.
'We went away from it a little bit, in terms of how we want to play, and in the first 10, 15 (minutes) I think we started the game really well and then probably came away from it a little bit.
'And then obviously with them going down to 10 men, we've managed to control the game and probably disappointed we didn't probably get a few more in the end, but we can't complain, it's a win and we take a lead over there.'
Rothwell was impressed and inspired by his first taste of a European night at Ibrox.
He said: 'Loved it. Obviously you hear stories from the outside, but when you actually get out there and experience it, it's fantastic and I'm sure the fans are going to be behind us in every single game and we'll need them.
'There'll be times where it might be a bit tough for us, but I'm sure they'll get behind us and then get us over the finish line.
'I think you can really see what the manager wants us to do and how we want to play and I thought it was obviously another good test for us and we came through it in the end.'