Socceroos Abroad: Ex A-League star not ‘daunted’ by Steven Gerrard’s Rangers

Several Socceroos and Australians featured this past weekend in the English and Scottish leagues.

Prior to the international break, several Australians featured in both Scottish and English leagues this past weekend's.

Socceroos Mixed Success

Mixed results for Australians in the Scottish Premiership
Tom Rogić provides second half magic
A number of Australians featured and won in both the English Championship and League One

The Scottish Premiership held its Matchday 8 of 33 over the past weekend. Several Australians playing in the league saw success while the other fell to their opponents.

Cameron Devlin continued this impressive performances with Hearts of Midlothian. Hearts won 2-0 to Motherwell over weekend, originally rising to first in the league. Speaking of the upcoming Heart's game, where Devlin and his teammates will meet Steven Gerrard's Rangers on Saturday, October 16, Devlin told the Herald Scotland:

"There’s no reason to be daunted. We’re top of the league for a reason, aren’t we?

"So we go into every game with confidence – and we’ll go to Ibrox with confidence.

"We’ll go with a game plan that the staff will come up with, then it’s over to us.

"We’ll try to be dominant – and obviously try to win the game," added Devlin. "It’ll be tough. They’ll have a lot of fans, there’s no shying away from that.

"But we got there with full confidence, knowing we deserve to be top of the league.

"For me personally, I’ve done my research and everyone knows Celtic and Rangers.

"But for me, I would say why not? I’m not thinking about it just now, we’re taking it game by game, week by week.

"Obviously being top of the league at the moment is unreal, so good, but we aren’t getting carried away."

Hearts fell to second in the league on Sunday, after Rangers beat Hibernian 2-1 at Ibrox Park. Martin Boyle played for Hibs in that match.

Hibernian were first to find the back of the net in that match, through a Kevin Nisbet goal. However, a red card to Ryan Porteous in the 30th minute resulted in the visitors playing one man down for two-thirds of the match.

Goals by Kemar Roofe and Alfredo Morelos in the second half resulted in the Rangers win. The loss put Hibernian third in the league. Martin Boyle is currently tied with Liam Boyce as top scorer in the Scottish Premiership.

Ashley Maynard-Brewer played the full 90 minutes for Ross County in their 1-0 loss to Dundee United last Saturday. It appears the young Australian is winning the battle to be club's number one, with fellow goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw previously being Ross County's preferred starting keeper.

Maynard-Brewer is currently on loan to the Scottish club for the season from Charlton Athletic, having first made his Scottish Premiership debut last month. Ross County remain 11th in the Premiership after their loss.

Matthew Millar played 75 minutes for St. Mirren on Saturday. The team won 1-0 to Livingston and rose to 7th in the league. Millar joined the club last month from A-League side Newcastle Jets after having also spent time on loan last year with English side Shrewsbury Town.

Ange Postecoglou's team returned to Scottish Premiership winning form this Sunday with a 2-1 victory against Aberdeen. The win was specifically welcomed as it was the first Scottish Premiership away win for Celtic since Valentines Day.

Tom Rogić came on for Celtic in the 72nd minute, after having played 66 minutes in their Thursday night UEFA League loss to Leverkusen. His coach hailed the midfielder's substitute performance in the win, which included an incredible pass to set up Celtic's the second goal.

Come for the Kyogoal, stay for Tom Rogic's involvement in the winner 🤤🍀

Ange Postecoglou's Celtic are back on track with a win at Aberdeen.#OptusSport pic.twitter.com/nSRh1Hpjfw
— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) October 4, 2021

Down in England, several Australians and Socceroos also saw action in the Championship and League One.

Harry Souttar played all 90 minutes in Stoke City's 1-0 win against West Brom last Friday. Recently linked with several Premier League clubs, the centre back has continued to flourish during his second full season at Stoke. The win pushed the club to 4th in the ladder.

Callum Elder did not feature in his club Hull City's 2-0 win last Saturday against Middlesbrough. Hull are currently 21rst in the league. He last played for Hull in their 1-1 draw on the 28th of September against Kenneth Dougall's Blackpool.

Dougall started and played the full 90 for Blackpool this past weekend. The Seasiders won by a scoreline of 2-1 in their encounter against Blackburn Rovers. Blackpool are currently 12th in the league entering the international break.

Riley McGree came on as a second half substitute for Birmingham City in their 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest. The loss dropped Birmingham to 16th in the Championship.

In League One Cameron Burgess started for Ipswich Town. The Tractor Boys fell 1-2 to Accrington Stanley. Fellow Aussie Tete Yengi, who joined Ipswich last week, did not feature in the game. Ipswich are 19th in League One.

Massimo Luongo's Sheffield Wednesday lost to Oxford United on Saturday. Luongo was unavailable as he is currently out with a hamstring injury. Gethin Jones did start and played the first half of Bolton Wanderer's 2-1 win against Shrewsbury. The win lifted Bolton to seventh in the league while Sheffield are twelfth.

All Scottish Premiership and Championship games resume in two weeks after the upcoming International break. Matchday 12 of 46 of League One continues next weekend.