Ally McCoist's appreciation of Jon Daly is personal as well as professional.
As a prolific goalscorer himself, McCoist understands the merit of a striker maintaining a rich run of form; as a manager, he sees the worth that Daly brings to his squad, in particular the younger players.
Daly is both an integral member of the starting line-up and a good influence in the dressing room. McCoist was signing a player of dual purpose when he offered Daly the option of leaving Dundee United as a free agent and signing for Rangers in September.
The original view was that Daly's versatility would mean he could also play at centre-back, a position that had vexed Rangers last season. Yet McCoist wanted him to play up front, to lead the line and offer the kind of physical presence and shrewdness that the rest of the team could play around in the attacking phase. That has mostly turned out to be the case, although opponents tend to sit very deep against the Ibrox side and the breakthrough in matches has often come after the interval, when mental and physical tiredness begins to tell.
Daly offers Rangers an outlet, as a centre-forward who can win the ball in the air when it is played up to the channels, but more decisively in applying the finishing touches to crosses into the penalty area.
In his recent hat trick against East Fife at New Bayview, Daly converted chances created by crosses from Arnold Peralta and Richard Foster. The striker has scored 10 goals this season, from eight appearances, and is well on course to beat his most productive season in Scottish football so far, when he scored 22 goals from 43 appearances for Dundee United. There are other merits to him, though. He sets standards in training and his approach to the game provides a benchmark for the younger players in the Rangers squad to work to.
"Jon was brought in to score goals," McCoist said. "He scored goals when he was in the top flight and he's continuing to do so here. He's different to Nicky Clark and Andy Little, he's more of an old-fashioned centre forward. He's aggressive and, if you put the ball into the area, he'll score against anybody. He demonstrated that against Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final last season. Jon takes pressure off the back four. He can spin defenders and you can hit him with the diagonal.
"I kicked my last ball for Kilmarnock when I was 39. Jon will only be 32 if things go to plan and we return to the top-flight on schedule. The boys nowadays look after themselves so much better. He's so important to us off the pitch as well. Where we are as a club right now, we need good people in the dressing room for the younger lads to look up to. We have that with the skipper [Lee McCulloch] and Lee Wallace and we have that with Jon, too."
Rangers have won 14 consecutive games since being knocked out of the Scottish Communities League Cup by Forfar Athletic in August. In that time, McCoist's side have scored 51 goals, conceding only five, and already look well beyond the reach of any of their League One rivals. Dunfermline ought to come closest, since they are the only other full-time side in the division, but they are rebuilding after a period of administration.
Jim Jefferies has marshalled a young, inexperienced squad to third place in the league, albeit on the same points as Ayr United, who lead them by goal difference. It is a narrow margin, but Rangers stand a further 11 points clear.
"The [tonight's] game is probably against the team that maybe a lot of people would have thought would be up there with us," added McCoist. "I can sympathise with them because we know exactly what they have been going through. Hopefully it looks as if they have turned the corner as well, which is great."
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