Declan John raring for Rangers return after missing Old Firm match

DECLAN JOHN is raring to get back on the pitch after a thigh injury prevented him from making his Old Firm debut.

The on-loan Cardiff full-back suffered the injury against Partick Thistle in the Betfred Cup and was forced to sit out the 2-0 defeat to Celtic at Ibrox on Saturday.

It came at a bad time for the 22-year-old, who had made a positive start to life in Glasgow and emerged as a more than competent replacement for the injured Lee Wallace.

John said: “I was doing quite well so to pick up the injury didn’t really help and to miss that massive game against Celtic wasn’t good for me, but we’ll play against them again later in the season.”

He added: “I was really gutted to miss the game against Celtic. I’ve been back training and hoping to be fit for Friday.

“The atmosphere, especially the first 20 minutes was incredible really.

“I haven’t really been involved in a game with an atmosphere like that, so I would definitely liked to have featured.”

Rangers are currently eight points adrift of the league leaders despite the season being just seven games old, but John is confident in the quality of the side and thinks a change in fortunes is not far away.

“At the end of the day you can look at points, but looking at the football we have played at times has been pretty good,” he said. “It’s just the difference in the two boxes at the end of the day.

“Trying to keep a clean sheet and trying to score more goals.

“I think in anything it takes time, it doesn’t come easy and straightforward. It will take time but we have a good group of boys here.

“It is such a massive club and especially with the fans – you’re expected to win every game and we expect to win every game as well.

“Like I said, some of the results haven’t gone our way.”