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Rangers manager Steven Gerrard was full of praise last night for attackers Cedric Itten and Kemar Roofe for their performances against Hibernian.

The Gers secured yet another three points in the league with a 1-0 win away to Hibs, with Alfredo Morelo scoring the decisive goal early in the second-half.

It means that the Light Blues remain 23 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, albeit second-placed Celtic do have three games in hand.

Rangers dominated the game for large spells, but had to show their defensive steel to keep a clean sheet and there may have been a few nerves in the closing stages.

Gerrard gave a positive response when asked about the impact of two of his substitutes against Hibs.

Roofe entered the action in the 73rd minute to provide some fresh legs and an outlet up front, while Itten did a similar job when introduced in the 83rd minute.

“They came on [Itten and Roofe] and did a terrific job because we needed them at that time,” Gerrard said, as quoted by the club’s official Twitter account.

“We needed to hold the ball up. We needed to secure it. We needed some selfless running. We needed people to work hard.”

TBR’s View:

A lot of the Rangers success this season has to be down to the strength of the squad, as Gerrard has the freedom to swap between attackers such as Morelos, Roofe and Itten whenever he pleases.

They would have to have an unbelievable collapse not to win the league title now, although fans will still not be counting their chickens.

Gerrard has to be praised for the way he’s got his team playing every game with such high intensity and he demands his substitutes to play at the same kind of pace whenever they enter the action.