James Tavernier happy to join the Ross McCrorie Ibrox fan club
Sunday 24 September 2017 11:48, UK
James Tavernier has backed boss Pedro Caixinha's claims that Rangers have a special talent on their hands with Ross McCrorie.
The 19-year-old caught the eye as he made his first Light Blues start in Saturday's match against Celtic, never looking overawed and making some impressive tackles.
Following his second-half substitute run-out against Partick Thistle last week Caixinha said McCrorie was going to be 'one of the best centre-halfs in history' and Tavernier was equally happy to extol the virtues of his defensive cohort.
He said: "I thought young Ross had a cracking game for his first Old Firm. He didn't look out of place.
"Ross works hard in training and did really well in the pre-season games and coming on against Partick.
"Today he showed great signs of being a promising young player. As long as he keeps his head down and works hard, he'll be a cracking centre back."
Bruno Alves was ruled out of the opening derby clash of the campaign after suffering a calf tear during the League Cup win over Thistle and Caixinha says he could yet be involved at Hamilton next Friday.
He said: "Bruno has a Grade One on his calf so he's doing an intensive programme with Cristiano Ronald's physio in Madrid.
"He started on Friday and we hope to have him back on Monday to do tests to see if he's able to play next Friday.
"But McCrorie is a player I don't have doubts about. I like Ross a lot and did really well.
"He didn't shake and didn't fail the test. That's his mentality. He did his job okay on Saturday."
