Waghorn aims to come up to scratch in Ibrox scoring stakes
ASCORING strike rate of one in two would be a satisfactory mark for most forwards. When Martyn Waghorn reveals that upcoming midweek opponent Kris Boyd and Ally McCoist are his Rangers benchmarks, it goes some way to explaining why he is far from content with this campaign’s tally of 15 goals in 31 games.
Waghorn’s homework when joining Rangers in the summer of 2015 included a study of the daunting figures posted by, among others, those two prolific No9s for whom anything less than 25 a season represented failure in front of goal.
Waghorn struck 28 times in 34 games last term before injury at Kilmarnock in a Scottish Cup replay effectively ended his season in mid-February. However, that haul was achieved in the Championship and he concedes that a slow start and form ‘not up to scratch’ had prevented him from pursuing Boyd and McCoist-like totals in the top flight. Four of his six Premiership goals have been scored against Hamilton.
‘When I first signed, I was hugely excited about coming to a club like this, so I looked back at what other strikers had achieved here in terms of goals, looked into the history of Rangers’ No9s and I wanted to emulate them,’ said the 27-year-old, who returns to Rugby Park on Wednesday night.
‘I looked at the tallies and the averages. That’s what I do as a striker, I compare myself. And at this level you need to score 25-plus goals in the Premiership to really nail down that No9 striker role.
‘Being the striker for Rangers is huge. You see the past players that have played for this club and want to be on par with them. I want to score 20-plus goals a season, what you should be doing. That’s my focus this season and I’m grateful that I’ve got a run in the team to try to do that. ‘Unfortunately I’ve played wide, played just off the striker and it’s been hard at times. You need games and chances to score. ‘Now, playing through the middle again, I feel I’m getting that fluidity once more. ‘We’ve tweaked the formation slightly to a 4-2-3-1, which is different to the previous manager. Myself and Kenny (Miller) are a bit closer, we’re working more as a two and it suits the strikers we have at this club. ‘The guys I looked at in that position were people like Kris, who scored a lot of goals over a number of years here. Before him, legends like Coisty obviously scored a lot of goals here. You don’t need me to name them all. But they’ve all been focal points for the attack. ‘At a club like this it’s important to have someone in place like that. To do it you need to be here at Rangers for a while and my focus is now to be here long-term, of course it is.’
Waghorn’s status as a Rangers player for the long term has, however, been in some doubt ever since contract talks were shelved last summer while teammates Wes Foderingham, Rob Kiernan and James Tavernier all extended their deals.
There followed a Premiership openingday injury then a period out of favour with exboss Mark Warburton. The subsequent upheaval in the management position has prevented progress on the striker’s future Ibrox plans, leaving the ex-Wigan and Leicester man with 15 months left on his contract.
‘I’m really happy at Rangers, my family is all settled,’ he said. ‘I’m going into my final year, so it’s up to the board but I don’t want to go anywhere. This season was just about getting back playing again.
‘I’ve got at least another year at the club. We’ve got objectives now to reach a final and nail Europe — that’s all I’m thinking about.’
Martyn Waghorn helped to launch Rangers Soccer Schools holiday courses. To book or for further information contact 0141 580 8819, email soccerschools@rangers. co.uk or call the Ticket Centre on 0871 702 1972.