Nothing was going to keep me out of Old Firm combat
I’ve come here to play football. I don’t want to miss games.
WAKING barely 48 hours before a seismic Old Firm showdown, Connor Goldson’s ankle was bruised and battered. His psyche felt similarly ravaged.
The prospect of missing a pivotal derby left Goldson distraught. Wife Kayleigh tried to get his head around the idea of sitting in the stand. But the centre-back refused to listen.
Nothing, he decided, was going to prevent him being out on the Ibrox pitch. Not even the sizeable damage inflicted when Darren McGregor accidentally landed on top of him during a 1-1 draw with Hibernian.
Fast forward to kick-off against Celtic and the £3million signing was indeed in place. Bolstered by a pain-killing injection, he was rock-solid in defence as Steven Gerrard’s men recorded a 1-0 success that transformed their title prospects.
‘I had bruising all round my Achilles, both sides of my ankle,’ Goldson reflected. ‘The guy just landed on me when I fell in the Hibs game. He has literally rocked the whole ankle.
‘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.
‘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 watching.
‘What did I have to do? Just everything. Credit to the doctors and physios, they patched me up as much as they could. I iced it 24/7 and tried to do everything I could 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.’
Goldson had no qualms about taking a jab to ensure he could last 90 minutes.
‘No, it was my decision,’ he stressed. ‘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.
‘As a footballer, the adrenalin 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 are walking about the house, you are constantly thinking: “Is it hurting or is it not?”. But as soon as the whistle goes and you are out there, the drugs kick in and you just go along with the game and try to focus on football.’
Goldson was able to present a far happier face to his wife after the full-time whistle as Rangers moved level on points with Celtic, albeit having played a game more.
‘She understands everything,’ he smiled. ‘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.’
The 26-year-old admitted he had been his own worst enemy in part by trying to push through the pain barrier against Hibs. Injured right at the end of the first half, Goldson reappeared for another 16 minutes before finally giving in.
‘That was my decision,’ he added. ‘It was probably silly but you just think if you get running, it will wear off and you can play through it. But I couldn’t move. The manager asked me at half-time. I said yes, I’m fine, but I probably shouldn’t have. However, I’ve come here to play football and I don’t want to miss games. The ankle still feels a bit stiff and there is still bruising in it but I am sure I will be fine.’
Goldson is testing his condition during the Ibrox squad’s training camp in Tenerife, where he has been joined by new signings Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis.
The defender believes the addition of two such experienced figures will be a huge bonus for Rangers in terms of the mentality needed to try and end Celtic’s Premiership dominance.
‘It brings people who have been at the highest level and done it and aren’t going to get afraid if we are up there in a title race,’ he argued.
‘The good teams always improve and so far the gaffer has gone about doing that in the transfer window. I was on the bench when Defoe scored against Brighton last season. It was a good finish. You have seen him over the years doing it on many occasions. He is a natural goalscorer.
‘With Davis, the main thing is knowing how to play at this football club. A lot of people don’t understand what it takes to play at this football club, the pressure it takes.
‘It’s something I’ve learned very quickly. Not even a bad performance, but one bad pass or a bad few minutes, and you can feel the pressure. He is someone who understands what Rangers means to the fans and the size of the club.
‘Defoe has played at the highest level possible. He has played in big occasions. Hopefully both of them will come and add to what we have done so far.’
Defeating Celtic has been the undoubted highlight to date. A performance that Goldson insists must set a standard for what is to come. As the celebrations reverberated around Ibrox that day, he stood in front of the Copland Road stand to try and soak it all in. ‘As we were walking off the pitch, I just took a moment to appreciate it,’ he recalled. ‘There are good times in football that you need to take in and there are bad times that you need to get rid of as quickly as you can. So when the good times are there, try to take them in. ‘I think my face said everything. I was just full of joy and happiness. ‘We knew how big that game was. We knew we had to turn up, and we did so. ‘The fans showed from the first whistle that when we play like that, they will back us 100 per cent.’