Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has confirmed defender Connor Goldson is a major doubt for this weekend’s Old Firm derby at Ibrox.
Appearing to be injured in a collision with Hibernian star Darren McGregor in the first half, the former Brighton man made it onto the pitch in the second half before eventually being substituted for Nikola Katic.
The manager later elaborated that the player was sore after the match and has put him onto a growing list of doubts for the massive match against Celtic.
As quoted by The Scottish Sun, Gerrard said:
Connor is sore. He’s a big doubt. There’s a lot of ice flying about the dressing room. There are five or six but I haven’t really had time to analyse them all individually.
I’ve said to the players ‘We’ve got two options. We can feel sorry for ourselves and mope around and sit in silence. Or we can regroup and pull ourselves together for ninety minutes of football.
It’s a huge game and I need to know in the next 24 hours who’s in and who’s not. Some people trained and were okay.
Sometimes you have to play through a little bit of pain, especially with the magnitude of the game that’s coming up.
With Borna Barisic injured at the weekend, Goldson’s potential absence is just the latest first-team blow for the fixture this week.
With others like Scott Arfield, Ryan Kent and Gareth McAuley also facing a battle to make the derby and others like Jamie Murphy and Graham Dorrans out long-term, Gerrard’s team is certainly up against it.
Whoever plays on Saturday will have to produce the performance of their lives to overcome a confident Celtic side who will be looking for more blood from the fixture.
However, the prize of victory should sharpen Rangers minds, with three points guaranteeing we top the table heading into the winter break.
Can we get the job done?
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