Sibbald is dreaming of being sweet 16 once more
Craig Sibbald will try to channel his inner 16-year-old when he goes toe to toe again with Steven Davis today.
The Livingston playmaker’s first crack at Rangers came in just the eighth start of his career at Falkirk, an incredible injury-time 3-2 League Cup win in 2011.
Now he wants to rediscover the fearless streak that saw him run the show at times that night against a topclass midfield.
The 23-year-old said: “The new guys who have come in at Rangers have had great careers. You want to test yourself against the best, so I’m looking forward to it.
“That first game I played against Rangers, Davis played in that.
“When you face a guy like that when you’re 16, you just go with the flow, he’s just another player and you get stuck in.
“I was fearless back then and I try to think back to how I felt then – it was pretty much just about taking everything in your stride.
“Now you analyse it all a lot more – which maybe you shouldn’t. Maybe I need to think more like I did when I was 16.”
Sibbald was tipped for the top back then and Livi boss Gary Holt – who managed Sibbald at the Bairns in his first job – insists he has it all to prove again.
Holt said: “I spoke in 2013 about Sibbald and raved about him – I still do. I worked with him every day and knew his talent but it was about someone taking a chance on him and giving him a platform to play.
“He is out his comfort zone now. He’s played
hundreds of games in the Championship but he’s at a whole different level now. He’s basically a novice, an apprentice with his first contract in the big league.
“So he has to impress again and kick on.
“As the season goes on, hopefully we’ll see him grow and produce what we know he can.”
Meanwhile, Holt refuses to let his Livi stars rest on the laurels of their first-half heroics that saw them amass 30 points before the winter break.
He is targeting a top-six place and said: “History tells you 30 isn’t enough to keep you safe so we won’t rest on our laurels.”
“Teams didn’t give us points we had to scrap for them and earn them and that is the same now.
“We are over the moon with what we have but it is only a starting point.”