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New Rangers signing Joe Dodoo insists: 'I am no bench sitter'

Joe Dodoo came on in the second half and sealed the win with a debut goal
Image: Joe Dodoo scored a debut goal for Rangers at East Stirlingshire

New Rangers signing Joe Dodoo has warned his fellow strikers he has no intention of sitting on the bench after leaving Leicester City.

The 21-year-old rejected a contract offer from the Premier League champions in order to move to Glasgow and marked his first appearance off the bench with a goal in Friday's 3-0 League Cup win at East Stirlingshire.

Dodoo could be in line to make his first start when Rangers round off their Group F schedule at home to Stranraer on Monday night - however, in the long term, he faces competition from last season's top scorer Martyn Waghorn, Kenny Miller, Barrie McKay, Josh Windass and Michael O'Halloran for a starting berth.

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Watch: Pre-season round-up

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He said: "I've come to play. I'm here to work hard for my place. That's the same for everybody coming in, they have to put the effort in. Nobody signs up and goes straight into the team.

"You have to work hard everyday and compete with your team-mates and see if you can get the nod to start."

The former England youth international, who is also eligible to represent Ghana, tapped home his debut goal from a Lee Wallace assist in stoppage time.

"It was great to get off the mark," he said. "I'm looking to play and get some minutes, so I was happy to get a 30-minute run-out. It was a good result, a win and a goal on my debut made it even better. So I'm very happy.

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"As a striker you always want to get off to a good start so to get a goal early is good for the confidence and now I want to kick on.

Dodoo celebrates his first goal for Rangers after completing his move from Leicester this week
Image: Dodoo celebrates his first goal for his new club after completing his move north

"It's a new club and a new team for me. I still need to get used to the players here but this is a good start in terms of learning a little bit about them, their intentions and what they want to do with the ball."

Dodoo passed on the chance to continue working with Claudio Ranieri's title-winning team but he insists he had little hesitation making the decision to move north.

He said: "Rangers is a big club, a very prestigious club, so I was more than happy to come up to Scotland and play.

"I'm happy to be here and sign for Rangers. It has always been a big club and that will never change."

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