Ibrox side Glasgow Rangers have a big game on Saturday and red-hot Josh Windass can’t let it pass him by.
If Rangers’ season finished tomorrow, Josh Windass could stake a claim over being the club’s Player of the Year.
The 24-year-old scored a hat-trick against Hamilton on Sunday to reach 15 goals for the season in all competitions, and the English playmaker now has nine in his last five games for the Gers.
Such is his form, the 2016 signing put pen to paper on a new contract this past week but there is a sense among some Rangers fans that Windass still has something to prove – and extending his purple patch against Hearts on Saturday would go some way to silencing the critics.
You can understand why some fans are reluctant to get fully behind him at the moment.
Thirteen of Windass’s 15 goals have either come against lower-league opposition, or against teams outside of the Premiership’s top five.
He has only scored twice in 10 games against Celtic, Aberdeen, Hibernian and Hearts this season and the flat-track bully suggestions are valid so long as he continues to struggle against Scotland’s best sides.
Scoring against the Jambos wouldn’t prove definitively that he can do it against good teams, because finding the net against a team like Celtic would be a far stronger message to send, but it would illustrate that he’s a growing force in the bigger games and surely any supporter who still doubts him would question their stance.
Windass pressed one finger against his lips after scoring against Partick earlier this month in what was considered a dig to Rangers fans who have criticised him, but if he really wants to send a message then a big performance against a side who thrashed Celtic 4-0 in December would be received loud and clear.
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