Rangers 1-1 Tottenham: ‘Lost tourists ransacked by ruthless hosts in Europa League’

Kulusevski was the break-class–in-case-of-emergency replacement at the break and he delivered. But before he did, Rangers made them suffer a little more.

Two minutes into the new half, James Tavernier, the captain emerging from a grim patch of form, did outstandingly to run away from Johnson and curl one into the path of Igamane.

The striker, wholly unconvincing until recently, finished with aplomb. It was deserved. Rangers had the better of it on all fronts to that point and now they had the lead to show for it.

Maybe Spurs couldn’t believe what they were seeing. And maybe they weren’t alone. Rangers have been improving of late, but theirs has been a soft recovery.

The characters who were calling for the head of their manager, Philippe Clement, only a matter of weeks ago had been silenced, but it was an uneasy truce, always liable to flare up again when things go wrong.

This Rangers had not been seen for a while. Belligerent, but also good on the ball. Pacy, threatening, solid enough at the back even after they suffered the huge loss of their best defender, John Souttar, after little more than half an hour.

And this Ibrox was a force, too. Loud, deliriously happy, thunderously angry – an unsettling wall of noise.

All the while, Postecoglou waved and flapped and turned away in fury when one of his players – many of his players – went backwards.

What he had was a cavalry to call on. Kuluseveski was a game-changer. Dominic Solanke was a big presence, too, in the salvage job. They were both involved in the equaliser, Kulusevski finishing.

Postecoglou barely moved. Maybe his heart was singing. Maybe not.

It was frenetic and fractious in the 15 minutes that followed. Solanke came close, but Tavernier came up with a big defensive moment to deny him.

The Dessers chance was it. That was the moment, or could have been.

Forster got them out of jail, but Postecoglou’s trial goes on. One win in eight is an uncomfortable case for the defence.

For Rangers, a League Cup final to come at the weekend against Postecoglou’s old and firing team.

A few weeks back, that final looked like a bit of a formality for Celtic. Now? If Rangers can build on the best of this they’ll have something to say, for sure.