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RANGERS Gers stopper put Old Firm fears to bed as injury woes turned to derby delight
ON Thursday morning, Connor Goldson couldn’t get out of bed. Come Saturday evening, he was on cloud nine.
The pain had been replaced by pride, the swelling on his ankle forgotten about as a smile beamed across his face. From the depths of despair, Goldson felt the ultimate Old Firm high.
The injury he sustained against Hibernian on Boxing Day threatened to rule Goldson out of one of the biggest games of his career.
But the defender dug deep for himself, his team-mates and his manager. He was nowhere near fit, but he was a commanding presence as Ryan Jack’s strike fired Rangers into Premiership title contention.
“I was probably as professional as I ever have been for two days,” Goldson said. “It was never a game I wanted to miss.
“I have said all along, I came up here for big occasions, big games of football. It could have gone either way but put it this way: I would have been gutted if I had been sitting in the stand.
“I had bruising all round my Achilles, both sides of my ankle. The guy just landed on me when I fell in the Hibs game. When I woke up on the Thursday, I couldn’t even get out of bed.
“I couldn’t walk on it. I wasn’t happy. I didn’t speak to my missus in the morning. I was a little bit emotional.
“She actually said to me, ‘you need to get over it, if you’re not going to play, you’re not going to play, it’s not the end of the world’.
“But I knew I had to. Not for the team, but for me. I wanted to play in that game.
“She understands everything. She knows how much I love football and that it’s all I want to do.
“She saw in those two days how much it meant for me to play in that game. After it, she and the family were there to appreciate the day and what it takes to play in those games.”
When Goldson hobbled off after an hour of that stalemate with Hibernian, everyone inside Ibrox would have feared the worst with Celtic in mind.
Boss Gerrard issued a rallying call to his walking wounded as he demanded one final push, one last performance, before the winter break.
Scott Arfield and Ryan Kent stepped up and delivered in style. So, too, did Goldson as he played through the pain barrier and rose to the occasion when it mattered most.
“Credit to the doctors and physios, they patched me up
‘‘ In the warm-up I wasn’t great but after kick-off I didn’t feel a thing
as much as they could,” he said. I iced it 24/7 and tried to do everything I could to try to get it moving. Even in the warm-up, I wasn’t great. I had the injection but as soon as the game kicked off, I didn’t feel a thing.
“It was my decision [to have the injection]. I asked the doctor straight after the Hibs game, ‘what can I take to get through this game?’
“I knew that after the game I would have three weeks off to let it rest and let it get better. So luckily for me, I was able to play.
“I didn’t feel it. As a footballer, the adrenaline kicks in. When you are hearing that noise and you are so focused on the game, you don’t have time to think about your ankle or whatever it is.
“When you’re walking about the house, you are constantly thinking about it, thinking ‘is it hurting or is it not?’
“But as soon as the whistle went and you are out there, the drugs kick in and you just along with the game and