Leon Balogun, Super Eagles defender, was sent off in the first half of Rangers’ spectacular away victory in the Scottish Premiership.
The Rangers’ defender was dismissed due to a rash challenge on Dean Cornelius after 28 minutes into Saturday’s 3-1 triumph against Motherwell.
Balogun crushed the midfielder with a reckless foul in their own half, and the referee didn’t hesitate to hand the defender a straight red card.
Rangers took the lead after Liam Kelly’s own goal 14 minutes in, but the 33-year-old’s exit enabled the hosts to level the scores seven minutes later via Ross Tierney.
Rangers, on the other hand, came out stronger after the interval, with Scott Wright scoring two minutes into the second half and James Tavernier securing the win 15 minutes later.
Joe Aribo (22 minutes) and Bassey (59 minutes) also contributed to the victory for the Rangers.
Rangers coach Gio van Bronckhorst voiced his disappointment with Leon Balogun’s red card, but hailed his team’s response in securing the win.
“We had to adjust the game plan of course. We started really well, 1-0 up, and had control of the game and of course with the red card we had to switch to another way of playing. We did it really well especially second half we had to change things a bit when we had the ball and also defensively,” he said.
The victory at Fir Park sees Rangers close the deficit at the top of the table to just three points.