HARRY Forrester has backed Joe Garner to be a prolific scorer at Rangers after the striker finally completed his £1.5 million move to Ibrox from Preston North End on Saturday.
Forrester, who played for Brentford and Doncaster Rovers before moving to Scotland, came up against Garner, who lists Nottingham Forest and Watford among his former clubs, during his time in England.
He was pleased to hear that Mark Warburton was pursuing him and has predicted he will make a major impact in the Ladbrokes Premiership as well as the Betfred Cup and William Hill Scottish Cup in the months ahead.
Read more: Rangers still lag some way behind city rivals Celtic despite summer signing spree
There is now stiff competition for places up front at Rangers and Garner will be competing with Joe Dodoo, Kenny Miller and Martyn Waghorn for a place in the starting line-up.
But Forrester said: “I have played against Joe a few times in England and think he is a great striker. He will get goals. He is a livewire.
Read more: Rangers still lag some way behind city rivals Celtic despite summer signing spree
“He will run in behind. He is a fox in the box type. Everyone has seen his famous goal on Sky Sports (for Preston against Rotherham in the play-off semi-final two years ago).
“He lifted the ball over the player’s head and puts it in the top corner. That is the quality he has got. Hopefully we can see that at Ibrox.”
Meanwhile, Forrester has predicted that Niko Kranjcar, who had a hand in the equaliser which he scored against Motherwell on Saturday and in Kenny Miller’s late winner, is set to become increasingly influential.
The former Croatian internationalist, who spent the second half of last season playing for New York Cosmos in the second tier league in the United States, has been short of match fitness since arriving at Rangers.
However, Forrester is confident that the former Portsmouth, Spurs and Queens Park Rangers man will start to play a greater role for the Ibrox club in the weeks ahead.
“The gaffer has said from day one what Niko brings,” he said. “He did very well when he came on. Like the gaffer says, it is a squad game. He normally likes to make two subs after an hour and the two boys who have come on have done well. It is a positive for everyone.
“Niko is doing his work to get fit. He got half an hour on Saturday which is good. We know what Niko brings. Everyone knows the quality of Niko Kranjcar.”
Forrester, who was substituted immediately after his goal against Motherwell, admitted that Rangers had performed poorly in the opening 45 minutes of the Premiership match at Ibrox at the weekend.
“I had thought before I scored the goal that my number was going up,” he said. “It was a tough afternoon. Motherwell came, got the goal early on and then put about 10 men behind the ball. It was hard to break down.
“We came out in the second half and put them to the sword. We have wave after wave of attack. We moved the ball a lot quicker in the second half.”
“We need to move the ball a lot quicker. In the first half it was being moved too slowly and they were able to get back into position. If you let teams get back and behind the ball they are really difficult to break down.
“But from the first minute of the second half we got behind them a few times, pinned them back and moved the ball a lot quicker.
“Teams are a lot more organised in the top flight. Last season they worked hard against us and our quality shone through at the end. That’s not always going to be the case.
“We know what we’ve got in the dressing room and we will always keep going like we did on Saturday. My goal came midway through the second half and then we got the late one. We will always keep going.”
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