GOODWIN WARY OF A RANGERS BACKLASH
JIM GOODWIN is braced for a backlash from a Rangers side still smarting from their Betfred Cup defeat in Paisley. The St Mirren boss is the only man to have masterminded a win over Steven Gerrard’s league leaders this season and admits it will be doubly difficult to r epeat t he f eat j ust a fortnight later. That challenge, however, is one Goodwin (below) is eager to embrace. Pointing to the pressure on Rangers ahead of Saturday’s Old Firm game, he will send out his side demanding the same intensity and aggression that secured their dramatic 3-2 success of December 16. St Mirren’s 2-0 win over Ross County last weekend means they have lost just one of their last 13 games. Goodwin now harbours hopes of ending the Ibrox club’s 12-match league winning streak in what would be a perfect end to 2020. ‘Is it a bigger ask to do it twice? Without a doubt, yeah,’ he said. ‘Rangers will be hurting slightly from us being the team who knocked them out of the cup. Everybody looked at t hat t r ophy and thought Rangers were a shoo-in. Apart from ourselves. ‘We genuinely did believe we could cause an upset. There is no expectation on us again. The pressure is all on Rangers.
‘They have to come here and win to maintain that gap between them and Celtic — especially going into a game of such importance. Rangers can’t afford to drop points. But we can’t either because we want to maintain the run we are on.
‘After tomorrow, we want to be one defeat in 14 games. Whether that is a draw or a win, I will take either. But we go in wanting to win it.’
Gerrard shuffled his line-up to include Calvin Bassey, Bongani Zungu and Cedric Itten last time around. Goodwin expects all the big guns to be present today.
‘I don’t t hi nk Rangers underestimated us. I just think Steven Gerrard felt he had enough in his starting XI to beat us.
‘ I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think (Borna) Barisic was a better left-back than young Bassey, although I do think Bassey has a fantastic future in the game. Or if I said Steven Davis in the starting XI wouldn’t improve Rangers. Of course he would.
‘But there was still a hell of a lot of quality international players in the team we faced. There would be tens of millions of a difference with my team. Rangers weren’t good enough to win on the night because of how we well we played.’ Jamie McGrath scored before Conor McCarthy grabbed the last-gasp goal that put Saints into next month’s semis. Both players are part of Goodwin’s smart recruitment of Irish talent and among those catching the attention of richer clubs ahead of the January transfer window. ‘You don’t want to lose any of your players,’ said Goodwin. ‘But I am realistic and know we are a club where, if a certain valuation is met, we don’t like to stand in the way of players getting an opportunity to go and earn life-changing money. ‘ There are always cl ubs looking at good, young, quality players. We have four or five in our ranks who a lot of clubs are looking at. I get calls regularly asking about their progress. ‘Ethan Erhahon is 19, Jake Doyle - Hayes is 21, Jamie McGrath has only just turned 24. Dylan Connolly and Conor McCarthy are young lads, too. ‘We have really good players but, as a manager, I suppose that’s ultimately what you are judged on. Your recruitment is everything. If you sign bad players, you get bad results and end up out on your ear.’