Steven Whittaker is proving the unlikeliest goal-machine in many a long year at Ibrox, and the surprise of it could not be more timely. With Rangers now stricken with five injured strikers — Kris Boyd, Kenny Miller, Nacho Novo, Kyle Lafferty and Steven Naismith — Whittaker’s two goals against Hamilton Academical on Tuesday have suddenly made him an improbable candidate as an emergency attacker at the club.
Whittaker now stands on eight goals so far this season for Rangers — not a bad yield for a full-back or wide midfield player. The 25-year-old’s brace against Hamilton in the Active Nation Scottish Cup in extra-time on Tuesday night ensured that Rangers survived into the fifth-round, though Walter Smith today has more pressing concerns on his mind — such as: who will play up front for Rangers against Heart of Midlothian on Saturday?
Smith has a minor emergency on his hands trying to find strikers to play at the weekend at Ibrox. In truth, Lee McCulloch is a more likely candidate to be a stand-in striker, though Whittaker did claim yesterday that he had played further forward earlier in his career.
“In my younger day I played up front,” Whittaker said, almost volunteering to come to Smith’s aid this weekend. “I played off the front two when I was a youth player but then I gradually worked my way wide, either on the right, the left, or at full-back. I can play wide or even centre midfield. I’ve filled in there before for Rangers. But just so long as I’m playing I will be happy.”
This energetic, rangy player has not always been an Ibrox favourite. Since being bought from Hibernian by Smith for £2 million in August 2007, there have been quite a few times when the infamous Ibrox groan has been aimed in Whittaker’s direction. And yet, despite this, his club and international career has prevailed, indeed thrived on occasion.
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“Steven has been terrific for us recently,” Smith said yesterday. “His attitude is really admirable and his performances have been pretty consistent. I don’t think there can be any doubt about what a good player he is.”
Whittaker himself says he enjoys being a goal-threat, and is on target now to have his best season in terms of finding the net. Indeed, having scored two in the space of five minutes against Hamilton, the glory of it went to his head at Ibrox on Tuesday night, when he went for a third from a tight angle late in the game, rather than lay the ball off to a team-mate.
“I would have loved to have scored a hat-trick on Tuesday and I probably should have laid the ball off, if I’m honest,” he said. “I was being a bit greedy, I saw the glory. I’ve got a couple of doubles to my name but never a hat-trick. So the next stage for me is to get three.
“I scored five from open play in my first season at Rangers, with three penalties in the Uefa Cup run. Really, it was five, so I’ve passed that already with eight, and hopefully I can build on that. I’m not always in defence — some of my goals have come from midfield. I’m creeping towards double figures and hopefully I can reach that before the end of the season.”
Whittaker admits that the absence of Boyd through injury has left Rangers struggling in front of goal. Yet the Ibrox side are still on course for a domestic treble, which would be quite a feat amid all their other troubles.
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“Kris is our main goal threat, and he and Kenny Miller had been linking up well,” he said. “With Kris out of the team I feel we have lost a bit of fluency. But we will still go into the game on Saturday and try to win, no matter who is on the pitch. The boys who come in will look on it as an opportunity to show what they are made of. I’m sure they will jump at the chance to have a starting slot.
“We are doing well. We are in the semi-final [of the Co-operative Insurance Cup] and progressing in the Scottish Cup. We will keep taking each game as it comes and, hopefully, can keep progressing and getting to finals.”