Watford of England midfielder, Tom Dele-Bashiru has admitted he is still relishing the impact of his goal for The Hornets in pre-season, but Glasgow Rangers of Scotland duo, Joe Aribo and Leon Aderemi Balogun missed action with their club in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers.
While Dele-Bashiru added that he was also relieved to score for Watford after several months out in the wilderness, Aribo and Balogun were not part of their club’s sorties on the continental terrain, as Rangers lost 2-1 to FF Malmo in the first leg of the third qualifying round.
Megasportsarena.com reports that Balogun had earlier been ruled out of the encounter at Eleda Stadium due to suspension, sequel to a red card he got in their last European cup game of the past season, and he would wonder how his side conceded two quick-fire goals in the second half.
On the other hand, Aribo was surprisingly omitted from Rangers’ matchday squad, while Calvin Bassey watched proceedings from the bench for all 90 minutes of the game, in which Malmo’s Nigerian-born defensive midfielder, Innocent Bonke put in an impressive shift for the duration.
Sadly, Rangers had the worst possible start to the second half as Soren Rieks curled the ball past goalkeeper Allan McGregor in the 47th minute, following which the Scottish champions went two goals down a couple of minutes later as Veljko Birmancevic swept the ball home.
Rangers pulled a goal back with the last kick of the game, as Steven Davies netted the crucial goal in the 95th minute with a deflected effort, thereby putting his side within a hair’s breath of turning the tide around during the reverse fixture next week at Ibrox Stadium.
On the other hand, Dele-Bashiru was delighted to score for Watford in pre-season training after he had to endure what he confessed was a difficult 10 months spell, when he was sidelined by a long-term injury.
Dele-Bashiru, who hit target for Watford’s under-23 team in 30 minutes of action against St. Albans City, said: “It was a great feeling being back out there again, doing what I love.
“These past 10 months have been really difficult. I’ve been working really hard in the gym, trying to improve myself day-by-day so that I can get back out on the pitch.
“So, I was really happy to get back out there. I was happy to get the goal as well. I was very, very happy to score.
“The type of player I want to be, I want to score goals and assist goals, so it was a good feeling to score on my return after such a long time out.”
