![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_Rangers-v-Motherwell-William-Hill-Scottish-Premiership-Football-Ibrox-Stadium-Glasgow-Scotland.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLiam Kelly reckons the boss won’t allow the team to take Annan lightly and take their “foot off the gas”<\/p>\n
Danny Rohl(Image: Stuart Wallace\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
Liam Kelly certainly hasn\u2019t forgotten the nightmare Rangers<\/a> went through 12 months ago.<\/p>\n And the Light Blues back-up keeper hopes the rest of his squad remember the painful lesson of what can happen when standards slip at Ibrox. Rangers are resurgent now under Danny Rohl<\/a> after a disastrous start to the campaign.<\/p>\n But only the Russell Martin\u2019s record-equalling Brugge battering comes close to the humiliation heaped upon the club this time last year as Philippe Clement<\/a> \u2019s side crashed out of Scottish Cup at the hands of Championship strugglers Queen\u2019s Park.<\/a><\/p>\n That mortifying spectacle \u2013 a result that ranks alongside Berwick Rangers in the Ibrox haul of shame \u2013 began with Spiders sub Seb Drozd firing past Kelly and ended with keeper Calum Ferrie batting away James Tavernier\u2019s stoppage-time penalty.<\/p>\n Twelve months on, memories of that bleak day still make Kelly wince. Which is why the 29-year-old is hellbent on making sure there is no repeat when League Two part-timers Annan Athletic visit for Govan for this term\u2019s opening Cup clash.<\/p>\n Kelly \u2013 who will make just his second appearance of the season in the fourth-round clash \u2013 said: \u201cIt\u2019s a game we\u2019ll be taking absolutely 100 per cent serious. We know Annan are capable of having some good results. They\u2019ve got some good players.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve just recalled Tommy Goss, one of their main strikers, who left them for East Fife at the start of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously my wee brother Shay\u2019s in League Two [with Dumbarton]. I watch a lot of Scottish football, I\u2019m aware of the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cWullie Gibson\u2019s the manager, who I\u2019ve played against a number of times when I was on loan at other clubs. It\u2019s a game that we\u2019re taking absolutely serious. We\u2019re desperate to win.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously we got the major shock and upset last year so we\u2019ve got the biggest reminder possible that we can\u2019t slip up.<\/p>\n \u201cOn that day everything that could have possibly went wrong did. It was awful. But in a way, it\u2019s something to remind us that if we come off the boil then we\u2019re going to get punished.<\/p>\n \u201cListen, looking at the way the manager\u2019s been since he came in the door, I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll be allowing us to take our foot off the gas.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an opposition we\u2019re treating in the exact same way that we treated Celtic.\u201d<\/p>\n That huge upset didn\u2019t spell the end of Clement but a defeat to St Mirren a fortnight later did.<\/p>\n But Kelly admits the vibe around the team then couldn\u2019t be much starker to the feel-good factor currently buzzing round Rohl\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIt was a sticky situation then. The team\u2019s in a far different position now.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re seeing a consistent style. We\u2019re starting to look the same more each week. There\u2019s not so many differences in the way we\u2019re playing.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think we\u2019re in a far better way to go into this game than we were that time last year. Ultimately that result should never have happened. Hopefully, it\u2019ll never happen again.<\/p>\n Rangers goalkeeper Liam Kelly during the warm up(Image: )<\/p>\n \u201cBut for it to never happen again we need to produce a good game on Friday night and that\u2019s the plan.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s probably a bit less to talk about the team now. Drama-free is probably the way to put it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe manager has come in and things have calmed down a lot. The way you see him is how we see him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s very calm. That\u2019s why I said drama-free. Even, for example, half-time at Parkhead a couple of weeks ago, it seems a bit of a drama because Celtic were really on top of the game.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he was just like, \u2018Calm down, we\u2019re going to get into this shape.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the ball\u2019s here, we\u2019re going to move here\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cTactically, he\u2019s sorted a lot of things out, which then helps him out because we\u2019re winning games.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re winning games, it breeds confidence and people are able to play without any element of stress or worry. The boys have stepped up.\u201d<\/p>\n Chief among those who have raised their levels is Ibrox No.1 Jack Butland.<\/p>\n The Englishman has shrugged off a calamitous campaign last year to establish himself as one of Scotland\u2019s top shot-stoppers.<\/p>\n But Kelly reckons he\u2019s played his own part in his glove rival\u2019s return to form.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cJack\u2019s been amazing for us this year. He\u2019s been brilliant.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s won us loads of points. It gives me a sense of comfort and a sense of satisfaction that he is playing that well. It justifies to me that I\u2019m pushing him as best I possibly can that his performance levels are that strong.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he has been really good. I\u2019m his biggest supporter.\u201d<\/p>\n But when it comes to fairytale comebacks, not even Butland comes to the Craig Gordon redemption story.<\/p>\n The 43-year-old Hearts legend could yet pen a final chapter that ends with a Premiership winners\u2019 medal and starting slot at the World Cup.<\/p>\n His save at Dens Park last week wowed onlookers \u2013 but Kelly was in no way surprised by the veteran\u2019s feats of heroism.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cMaybe people will stop talking about his age now, honestly.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he was 24 and making that save, then you\u2019d be like \u2018amazing\u2019. The fact he\u2019s 43 and making that save, it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n \u201cJust judge him for the goalkeeping. He\u2019s an amazing goalie.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve said before, he could play forever! He makes some unbelievable saves.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is taking about that save as if it\u2019s a reflection of everybody else who\u2019s younger, because he\u2019s still amazing at 43.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not our fault he\u2019s still that good! Give us a break!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liam Kelly reckons the boss won’t allow the team to take Annan lightly and take their “foot off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[210638,76431,1948,10748,1946,1638,79,16,15,21838],"class_list":{"0":"post-699416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-annan-athletic-fc","9":"tag-danny-rohl","10":"tag-jack-butland","11":"tag-liam-kelly","12":"tag-rangers-fc","13":"tag-scottish-premiership","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-william-hill-scottish-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115903660416866050","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Rangers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_JS377987532.jpg\")
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