Gio van Bronckhorst hailed forgotten man Fashion Sakala as Rangers hit St Mirren for four at Ibrox.
And he hinted that the Zambian forward has now put himself in contention to play against Liverpool in the Champions League. Sakala came in from the cold and scored in Gers’ emphatic win over the Buddies. Antonio Colak bagged a brace and James Tavernier struck a penalty as van Bronckhorst ’s men stayed on Celtic’s coat-tails in the Premiership. Next up is their Battle of Britain re-match with the Reds on Wednesday night. And the Rangers boss says Sakala has done his chances of starting against Jurgen Klopp’s side no harm.
Van Bronckhorst said: “I’m really happy with Fashion because the more options I have, the better it is for me. He came on in midweek at Anfield and did well so we wanted to give him a chance. I thought he was really good and did what we expected. We’re now able to use the speed we have up front. It makes it so much easier when we have strength in depth in attack. I never wanted Fashion to leave in the summer, it was never my intention to let him go. He was talking about his future, like all the players, but it was never my intention to let him go. A lot of players showed with their performances today that they want to play on Wednesday.”
Rangers racked up their second 4-0 victory on the spin after notching the same result against Hearts at Tynecastle last week. He was delighted with the performance against Stephen Robinson’s side. The Dutchman feels they’re getting stronger defensively with £4 million centre-back Ben Davies finding form and he heaped praise on Croatian hit-man Colak who now has 13 goals in 16 games since signing for the club. Van Bronckhorst said: “We showed our intention right from the start and wanted to get the first goal in the game.
“We started really well and got the goal from Antonio. The second came from a penalty and that made it a lot easier for the rest of the game. The second half was even better as we dominated more and kept possession better. We kept our energy right until the end and managed to get another two goals. It was a very positive outcome - the same as our last league game with Hearts.
“Ben wasn't able to play in the beginning but he is getting stronger. He was positive in midweek and again today. It’s good to have him because he provides us with strength at the back. Leon King came on again today also and we’re working better as a backline. It was good to keep a clean sheet. We wanted Colak to have a good start at the club. He had to perform really well from the beginning which he has done. I’m very happy with his performances and all he has to do now is continue that.”
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