CRUNCH TIME
Scan to show if Bates can make Old Firm semi
RANGERS defender David Bates will today find out the extent of his ankle injury after it was confirmed he had not broken a bone during Sunday’s five-goal Old Firm thriller.
The 21-year-old left Ibrox on crutches after being caught accidentally by Celtic’s Tom Rogic as the Australian midfielder curled the ball past Wes Foderingham to make it 1-1.
Fears that Bates had broken his ankle in the 3-2 home loss were soon allayed and he will undergo a scan this afternoon.
The former Raith Rovers defender faces a race against time to be fit for the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden on Sunday April 15.
‘David is going to have a scan on his ankle, but he has not broken it,’ confirmed Rangers boss Graeme Murty.
‘It is a freak injury. He stepped to the ball and tried to make a block and the ball flicked off his shin, which took it out of (Rangers goalkeeper) Wes Foderingham’s grasp. As Rogic had the shot, he came down on David’s ankle.
‘It looked a nasty one at the time and David is obviously upset but we won’t know the extent of it until we have it scanned.
‘He has got a very fat ankle and we are very disappointed for him. We are taking our time to make sure we get the assessment done properly and get a proper prognosis and a timescale in due course.
‘We don’t know how long we have lost him for.’
Murty was angry with the errors his side made on Sunday and was left ‘incredulous’ at striker Alfredo Morelos hitting the post from four yards with the goal gaping, missing a glorious chance to rescue a point against ten-man Celtic.
But the Ibrox boss admits he may have been too hard on his side after they improved from being rated ‘the worst Rangers team of all time’ to pushing the Scottish champions close under his watch.
‘I was really down after the game and really down on us because we had let that opportunity slip,’ Murty told RangersTV.
‘I was really down on our tempo, our passing of the ball and the goals we conceded. ‘But since watching the game back and looking at it, there is lots I have to be positive about and there is lots we can enhance and get better at. ‘But for the width of a goalpost, I am sitting here with a smile on my face. ‘But we know that when we are playing against people of that quality, we can’t afford to give them easy opportunities like we did. ‘Let’s not forget the first game I took charge of against Celtic we were touted as the worst Rangers team ever and we were going to get beaten 8-0 — so we have come a distance. We are closer to them than we were but the disappointment will come from that sense of having an opportunity and letting it go.
‘We must also identify the things we did really well that we can go and exploit in the semi-final.’
Former Ibrox defender Gregory Vignal, meanwhile, believes Rangers youngsters can take great encouragement from players such as Bates stepping up from the club’s youth system to the first team.
The Frenchman, who enjoyed a league and cup-winning season on loan at Ibrox in 2004-05, has returned to the club to work as an academy coach.
Vignal insists seeing young players such as Bates and Ross McCrorie progress this season is an obvious source of motivation for those at lower age levels.
‘When I used to play for Rangers, I didn’t have a lot of interaction with the academy,’ added Vignal. ‘But you see now that the academy and the first team work closer together.
‘We have had a few young boys round training with the first team and that is great for their development.
‘The young players see some of their team-mates getting to work with the first-team squad and it gives everyone a lift. They can see they can get there as well.
‘We have a lot of good young players but they have to keep working hard every day.
‘It is good the way the academy is right now and, hopefully, we can see a few young boys making into the first team next season.’
The 36-year-old Frenchman can number former Liverpool managers Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez among the influences on his own playing career and he also formed a strong working relationship with then Rangers boss Alex McLeish in his season at Ibrox.
He believes he can bring a different perspective to his Scottish counterparts at Auchenhowie when it comes to shaping potential stars of the future.
‘I was 19 when I went to Liverpool from Montpellier,’ Vignal reflected.
‘I worked with Gerard Houllier, Phil Thompson and Sammy Lee and I learned a lot from them.
‘Even when Rafa Benitez came in for pre-season, I was very impressed by the way he used to manage things and his training was always very good.
‘I learned a lot from some top managers and I think that can help me in my own coaching career.
‘I previously coached in France and the way we work there is different to the way it works in Scotland.
‘I am hoping to bring some new ideas that I have learned in France with me here and help some of the younger boys develop. But I will keep them just for the people at the club.’
l Gregory Vignal was promoting Rangers Lotto, which has already contributed £8,000 to the club’s youth development in 2018. See www.rangerslotto.co.uk for details.