Holt desperate to taste new glory in Govan with Lions
FOR Gary Holt, a coach journey to Ibrox tomorrow will double as a pleasant walk down memory lane. The Govan ground was where he saw a childhood dream come true in 1997 when he won the Scottish Cup with his hometown team Kilmarnock, beating Falkirk 1-0 in the final.
A year later, Holt was on dream-crushing duty at the same venue as Ally Mitchell’s late winner for Killie effectively put an end to Rangers’ hopes of winning ten-in-a-row. He followed that up in 2000 by scoring in a 3-0 victory for the Rugby Park side.
Now, almost two decades later, the Livingston boss returns once more, aiming to secure his second win of the season over the Glasgow giants after masterminding a surprise 1-0 victory at the Tony Macaroni Arena in September.
‘I won the Scottish Cup at Ibrox and I scored against Rangers in one of a few wins there for Kilmarnock,’ recalled Holt. ‘I loved testing myself on the big stage against the better teams.
‘It was a chance to go toe-to-toe with someone who was supposedly better than you. And at Kilmarnock, we always seemed to be able to nick a result at Ibrox, whether that was a draw or a win.
‘I was even fortunate enough to score in a game there where we won quite comfortably, 3-0.
‘Some people speak about the first 20 minutes at a big ground like Ibrox and say: “Keep it 0-0”. But I’m a firm believer that you should go out and try to score a goal. In a 12-team league, it’s worth going for three points rather than aiming for one.
‘And we’ve all seen in the past, if you can get a goal at Ibrox, it’s a whole different ball game. Scoring first really upsets the apple cart.
‘Our players would grow from that, too. Their chests would get puffed out and their shoulders would go back.
‘We were fortunate enough to score two early goals that day we won 3-0 in 2000. I remember thinking: “We’ve scored far too early”. Rangers still had 80 minutes to put it right.
‘But I just feel if we go to Ibrox with the intention of containing Rangers, then we won’t get anything out of the game.
‘If we get beat having a go, we will all go home happy having done our jobs. I can sleep easier at night knowing we have tried to win a game of football.’
These days, the top draw at Ibrox is the manager, Steven Gerrard. But Holt has fond memories of going toe-to-toe with another English superstar midfielder in Govan.
‘I remember going up against Paul Gascoigne and, along with Brian Laudrup, he was phenomenal,’ said Holt.
‘Their talent and their work ethic was amazing. They also had Ronald de Boer in later years but, at the end of the day, it’s 11 men v 11 men. They breathe the same as you and they bleed the same as you.
‘Kilmarnock winning there when I played just shows you what can happen in football if you have the right attitude and application.
‘My boys have not been overawed this season after coming up to the Premiership. They’ve embraced every game and it will be the same at Ibrox on Saturday. I will tell the players to enjoy it, don’t be overawed — and stick to the game plan.’
Dolly Menga was the goalscoring hero the last time Livingston met Rangers. But he took on the role of villain in the recent 0-0 home draw with Celtic after headbutting Ryan Christie and being handed a retrospective two-game ban.
That leaves Holt with a striking dilemma, as he is also without injured trio Lee Miller, Rafa de Vita and Ryan Hardie but he feels the win over Rangers two months ago in West Lothian will boost his side’s confidence.
‘It probably takes some of the fear factor out of it,’ said the 45-year-old.
‘You know who you are playing against. Does that make it any easier? No, because we are away from home this time.
‘Rangers are playing good football and they have a good young manager who is trying to improve things on and off the pitch.
‘If we give them time and space to play, they’ll beat us. We have to turn it into a battle and make it as uncomfortable for them at Ibrox as we made it for them at our home.
‘In terms of striking options, I think I may need to bring my own boots. No, just kidding, we have Jack Hamilton, while Scott Robinson, Nicky Cadden and Egli Kaja can all do a job up there.
‘Are they out-and-out replacements for Dolly Menga? No, but we have other tools we can exploit in different areas.
‘Dolly will be a big miss but someone else has the chance to take his place.
‘If someone comes in and does well on Saturday, Dolly will miss more than two games — and if he does, that’s down to him.’