Former Rangers youth player Andrew Shinnie has a particular Old Firm double on his mind, after a somewhat unexpected starring role in the West Lothian side’s 1-0 win over Celtic last weekend.
His goal was the only strike of the game, to secure the points for Davie Martindale’s side and now he wants more on his return to the place where it all began for him.
Shinnie has already scored against Rangers, twice in fact.
Those goals came for Inverness and the latter was part of a 3-0 reverse for a Rangers team in transition, bouncing back from the travails of adminstration and everything else under Ally McCoist, in the League Cup in 2012/13.
Speaking this week to The Athletic, Shinnie spoke warmly of his time at Ibrox and the learning curve that it represented for him:
“I had John Brown and (Ian) Durrant. He liked me and got on well with me at the reserves. It was a tough school, there was no messing around up there.”
“Billy Kirkwood, Tommy Wilson and Jimmy Sinclair came in and taught me about standards. It set me up as a man and a footballer.”
He made his debut under Walter Smith, coming on as a substitute for Dado Prso against Aberdeen in March 2007.
Balancing act
Since arriving at the Tony Macaroni Arena, the Aberdonian has settled in nicely.
He is said to be enjoying being back in Scottish football and at just 32, he is determined to make an impression.
Livi boss Martindale is said to be wary of asking for too much from his man, particularly as he has already had a couple of minor injury concerns.
It was the manager’s shrewd call to push Shinnie into a more advanced striker position, from his usual attacking midfield berth, which paid a handsome dividend on Sunday.
Now he has another big call to make as to how much of the action, the former Birmingham and Luton man will see at Ibrox, ahead of further crucial Premiership tests.
“It will be a conversation I have with the player and see how he feels”, Martindale told STV.
Following several defensive lapses against Motherwell, Rangers have making up to do at the back – that is the task facing a likely pairing of Connor Goldson and Leon Balogun or Jack Simpson.
Shinnie will pose a threat and he will need to be marshalled effectively – if not, he will be there to capitalise to further add to his latest rise to prominence in the Scottish game.