John Souttar has confessed it was a baptism of fire facing off for Rangers against Celtic last weekend after being thrown back into the starting XI for the first time since last July after overcoming a long-term injury.
And the centre-back, who made a costly mistake during the derby defeat, admits he was only told at the last minute by head coach Michael Beale that he would be given the nod from the off because of a hip problem picked up by fellow defender Connor Goldson. Souttar was signed from Hearts on a pre-contract last summer and arrived at Ibrox with big expectations having broken into Steve Clarke's Scotland squad.
But a stress fracture in his ankle kept him sidelined for the majority of the campaign as he sat helpless while Celtic climbed ever closer to clinching another Scottish Premiership title. He said: "I only really knew the day before that I was playing. It was a difficult game to come back into but just to play football again, I was buzzing to be back out on the pitch."
