I sometimes do daft stuff but I relish the pressure at Rangers
IF a shush gesture to his own supporters taught Josh Windass anything, it was this: At Rangers, the spotlight is always
on. Eleven goals in nine games goes a long way to earning a man forgiveness. Named the Ladbrokes SPFL Premiership Player of the Month for February, however, Windass is unlikely to risk a repeat.
Incurring the wrath of supporters after he celebrated a goal against Partick Thistle at Firhill by raising a finger to his lips while facing the away support, Windass admitted: ‘The stuff you do here gets highlighted more, even if it’s just stuff on Twitter or something.
‘Everything gets highlighted more than if you are playing for a lesser club.
‘So I’ve learned something in that respect.
‘Playing at a club like this, I realise you can never really do enough.
‘There’s a quote down the corridor on a board from Richard Gough which says you are only as good as your last pass at this football club and, obviously, I’ve come to realise that’s true since I’ve been here.
‘The pressure has been high but I’ve really enjoyed it.’
Insisting there was no malice intended towards the Rangers support, Windass claims it was spur of the moment stuff.
‘I don’t even know what it was, it was just a celebration and that’s the only way I can describe it really,’ he admitted. ‘It was just the way the game was going and obviously the fans were on our backs a little bit because we were having a bit of a nightmare.
‘I scored and thought: “Why not?”. I do loads of daft stuff. ‘It’s just football, isn’t it? ‘The reason I’m in football is to enjoy myself and have a laugh and do my best.’
Conceding last weekend’s Old Firm defeat to Celtic was a day of mixed emotions, Windass maintained his scoring streak with the opening goal.
Producing his best form in a Rangers shirt since a change of position — and manager — he admitted: ‘I’m not sure I’d have been in that position when I first came as I’d have been deeper in the pitch but I’ve now got more confidence.
‘The club signed me to play in this position, so I was always a bit confused, to be honest, they didn’t play me in the position they signed me for. But, obviously, getting the chance to do it this season has proved me right, really.’
Windass has a further incentive to keep his scoring run going against Kilmarnock today after a bet with Rugby Park striker Kris Boyd over who will finish the season highest scorer.
Boyd has 19 goals while Windass has already matched his best ever haul of 17.
‘He’s flying,’ said a grinning Windass. ‘Absolutely flying. I check their results every week and see that he’s scored and I’m raging.
‘I’m just trying to do my best for Rangers but that’s a little side bet, a bit of banter and bit of personal reward. ‘I did a Sky programme with him the other week and we were having a bit of a laugh about it. ‘He is a good lad and I just hope he has a bad game this weekend.’ While Windass is on the up, the suspicion is that team-mate Alfredo Morelos has spent the last week haunted by that miss. Reliving the ball striking the post before going to sleep. Seeing it bounce back into Celtic goalkeeper Scott Bain’s arms when he wakes up. For the Rangers striker, these are testing, tortured days. He finished the Scottish Cup tie against Falkirk on his knees after blowing a raft of chances. His final act in last Sunday’s defeat to Celtic was to strike the post with the tap-in which would have earned the Ibrox side a draw. And his hopes of a late call-up to Colombia’s World Cup squad suffered a setback when coach José Pékerman left him out of his squad for the forthcoming friendlies with France and Australia. Challenging the young striker to use the adversity of the week as a motivation to finish the season as Scotland’s top scorer, interim Ibrox boss Graeme Murty said: ‘It should light a fire under him.
‘I think he should look at his team-mates who are getting that recognition and be desperate to go and be one of them. If that’s the way he uses it, as motivation, it’s good for me and good for him and it could be good for his country because he has some attributes we like and we hope his national team likes them.
‘He was very down. He was very low, as you would expect. He has to put it behind him and learn from it.
‘We have to get him in front of the goal again and get him over it and get him back on the horse and get him confident again.
‘Get a goal. Go and get another one. Finish as the top scorer in the country and finish the season on a high.’
Murty suffered sleepless nights himself on Sunday and Monday before doing his best to lift the post-traumatic impact of another defeat to Celtic.
‘It has taken time obviously, but the guys are in a positive frame of mind. The training today was bright and breezy,’ he said.
‘We can’t afford to get weighed down in the negatives because they can drag you too far.’
Eyes will certainly focus on Rangers to see how they respond to another defeat to Celtic.
Criticised for failing to match the tactical switch made by Brendan Rodgers when the visitors went down to ten men, Murty believes he will learn from the experience.
‘I have looked back on it, I have looked back on the changes that we made and I think that, as well as the players getting better, I will get better because that is the first time I have been in the situation where we have gone into a game and people have expected us to beat Celtic,’ he added.
The damage of another failure has yet to be established.
Asked if there might be a psychological impact against Kilmarnock, Murty admitted: ‘It could. It is our job to make sure the players understand it is just one result and they are going to be judged on their next performance. They have to bounce back.’