THE car share ferrying a job lot of Clydeview Academy pupils from Inverclyde to Auchenhowie after school most days has taken a fairly major detour. Rather than graduate serenely into the Ibrox first team, Greg Taylor and Adam Frizzell now ply their trade for the Kilmarnock side which will face Rangers at Rugby Park this lunchtime, while the third member of the group, Lewis Morgan, may soon be lining up for their historic rivals Celtic after completing his apprenticeship at St Mirren. None of the three stand more than 5ft 8in tall, but the long and short of it is that each of these Ibrox cast-offs has graduated to Scotland Under-21 honours and proved in their own way that there is life after Rangers.
“I don’t know what it is about Scotland but everyone seems to be obsessed with height,” said Taylor, a 20-year-old from Greenock who is comfortable at both left back and midfield and was the scorer of a fine winning goal for Scotland against Brazil at the Toulon Tournament this summer. “We might have a few smaller boys in the game but I think we handle ourselves well out on the pitch. We are playing week in, week out so it doesn’t seem to be holding any of us back, does it?
“Lewis was the year above me in school but we car-shared when he was at Rangers and we got on well,” he added. “Things like that happen a lot in football, it is never going to be highs all the way, there are definitely low lows as well. It was just unfortunate the way it worked out for us at Rangers, but hopefully now we are all kicking on and who knows in the future we could maybe win moves again. Every player has aspirations to reach the very top of the game and we are no different.
“Lewis is doing really well at St Mirren and wherever he ends up he will have earned it. He got two man of the matches in three Scotland Under-21 games, so that tells you something. He is lightning quick and he isn’t the type of guy any full-back would want to come up against.”
Taylor’s outings against his old club have been nothing if not eventful. There was a red card last season for a wild challenge on Joey Barton, then the point he earned at Ibrox in October, secured with an injury-time Chris Burke equaliser after Jamie MacDonald had saved a last minute Daniel Candeias penalty. That was manager Steve Clarke’s first match in charge, and his opposite number Pedro Caixinha’s last. The Rugby Park side are bidding to complete a hat-trick of home wins at a ground where good vibrations have suddenly replaced the usual soundtrack of grumbles and groans.
“There is no better way to get a point or a win than in the last minute,” said Taylor. “It was a really good buzz and has kick-started our season really. As soon as Jammer [MacDonald] saved the penalty I think everybody knew we were going to go on and score. The gaffer had said at half time, ‘just keep yourselves in the game, don’t go gung-ho, it is a long half’ It took us to the 92nd minute but we got the point we needed. What has made the difference? Just going back to basics - as daft as that sounds. We have got a good shape, the gaffer is really hands on at the training pitch. He has us working as a unit and the game plan for each match is suiting us. Hopefully he has a game plan ready for Saturday too.”
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