Young guns’ chance to earn their spurs

Striker Garner believes club has talent available to overcome loss of playmaker Kranjcar

Joe Garner believes Rangers’ young guns can provide the spark needed in the absence of Niko Kranjcar.

Gers boss Mark Warburton received the news he was dreading earlier this week when doctors confirmed playmaker Kranjcar had torn his cruciate ligament.

The Croatian is now looking at a six-month recovery period and Warburton says he may look to bring in a replacement come January.

But Garner reckons the likes of 22-year-old Josh Windass, Jason Holt, 23, and Andy Halliday – still only 25 – proved in last week’s 3-0 win over Kilmarnock that they possess the key tools to unlock opposition defences.

Garner said: “Niko’s a top, top player and he brings a lot of experience to a lot of the younger lads that we do have here at the club.

“He will be a huge miss for us but hopefully he comes back stronger.

“It will be tough going without him but the young lads have stepped up lately.

“Josh has been playing really well, Holty and Andy are on form as well. The gaffer knows what he’s doing, but hopefully we should be okay with those guys in the team.”

Garner became Rangers’ most expensive summer signing when he arrived from Preston for £1.8 million in August.

He looked uncomfortable in Warburton’s trademark 4-3-3 set-up during his early days at Ibrox, but the recent introduction of Michael O’Halloran has given the Englishman the service from wide he craves.

His response has been back-to-back strikes against St Johnstone and Killie, and Garner insists there is more to come.

“It’s always nice to score goals, especially being a striker,” the 28-year-old said ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Ross County.

“The performances have been getting better as well, week in week out, and we will keep working hard on the training ground and hopefully the results take care of themselves.

“The way the team plays is a little bit different to what I am used to. It took me a little while to get used to different situations, different runs that I need to be making.

“But I am confident that I can score goals at this level and hopefully get another one at the weekend.”

Last week’s Killie victory was one of Gers’ slickest performances of the season so far.

It helped move them up to second in the Ladbrokes Premiership table, but Garner says it is still too early to read too much into the standings.

“We just take it game by game. Hopefully we can put three points up at the weekend against Ross County.”

Picture: SNS Group. Rangers’ Joe Garner scores against Kilmarnock.