RANGERS goalkeeper Jon Mclaughlin has backed James Sands to cope with his Old Firm debut at centre half at Parkhead today thanks to his ice-cool temperament.
Mclaughlin has been impressed with how Sands has performed in the specialist position since Ben Davies and John Souttar joined Filip Helander on the sidelines.
The United States internationalist prefers to be deployed as a defensive midfielder – but he has grown in confidence in the heart of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s rearguard in recent weeks.
He helped Rangers to beat PSV Eindhoven away in the Champions League play-off last month and secure a place in Europe’s premier club competition.
And McLaughlin, who will himself make just his second appearance in the world-famous derby at Parkhead today, has no doubts he will handle the cinch Premiership encounter with the Scottish champions in the East End of Glasgow despite the hostile atmosphere.
“I think James has done really well with what he’s been asked to do,” he said. “I’m not really sure how much he’d played in that position before he came to Rangers. But he’s a quality footballer, a good player.
“He’s got those attributes that lend themselves to playing at centre half. He’s done it well throughout the season. Like others in the team, you’re going to grow into it as you go and hopefully continue to improve and get better and better the more comfortable you feel in it.
“As a unit, we’re starting to click and gel in that sense. The more opportunities we get to have that settled four or five players playing continuously in that role, that will hopefully only improve the group and the unit.
“I think James has got the temperament as well. He’s another calm figure. His temperament going into a game like this, to keep concentration and focus and not let anything on the outside faze him, he’ll be more than capable of dealing with all that.”
Mclaughlin, who has displaced Allan McGregor as Rangers keeper this season and produced a string of fine displays, believes having Connor Goldson alongside him has helped Sands to settle at centre half.
He thinks Goldson will be an important player for the visitors – who are set to field a number of Old Firm debutants at Parkhead - this afternoon
“Connor brings a leadership quality to the team,” he said. “It’s great to have that in front of you as a goalkeeper and it’s great to have that continuity and that trust in the people around you. And them in you.
“The more you get to work with those players consistently it can only benefit the whole group and not just the back four. We’ve got experience and good leadership all the way through the team and plenty of guys who know what it takes to win this fixture. The rest of us will take a lot of confidence from that going into the game.”
Rangers are missing Davis, Helander and Souttar at the back as well as Ianis Hagi and Tom Lawrence in midfielder and Kemar Roofe up front and are underdogs going into this afternoon’s game.
But Mclaughlin, who helped the Ibrox club to record a Scottish Cup semi-final victory over Celtic at Hampden back in April, remains confident his side can record an away win and move to the top of the Premiership table.
“The honest answer from myself is that I don’t really read or listen to a lot of whatever is going on on the outside,” he said. “I just concentrate on what’s happening within the building, the things we can control. We never see ourselves or look upon ourselves as an underdog.
“We know what we’ve got to do, what we’ve got and what our strengths are. We know if we play to our very best what we can do. We’re very confident in that. So we’re looking forward to the game and going there to show the very best version of ourselves and getting a very positive result.”
