Leon King impresses BT Sport pundit with role in Rangers goal v St Mirren
Leon King’s role in the build up for the late strike from Fashion Sakala in the 4-0 Rangers win over St Mirren impressed Alan Hutton live on BT Sport.
The teenager replaced Ben Davies for the final half an hour at Ibrox, as the Gers recorded a comfortable victory to keep two points behind Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
His pass out from the back got Hutton to take notice, as he pinged one out to his captain, who then found Alfredo Morelos, who in turn found the Zambian to score.
Speaking live on BT Sport Score on Saturday afternoon (8 October, 4.48pm) the ex-Ibrox defender said: “It’s a great team goal actually. Leon King came on as a sub. He’s absolutely zinged the ball to James Tavernier on the right hand side.
“He plays the ball up to Morelos who turns, he plays in Sakala, Sakala takes a touch and finishes.”
The youngster has still only made 17 senior appearances for the Light Blues, so his role stood out in the late strike.
Growth
Big things are expected of King in the future, but the difficulties in central defence so far this season are surely accelerating his advance.
Davies, signed at no small expense from Liverpool in the summer has taken his time to even be included in the line-up, despite the long-term absence of John Souttar who was lined up to be the regular starter.
The Englishman was in the XI at kick-off at Ibrox, but it wasn’t the first time he has been replaced by the youngster, which suggests Giovanni van Bronckhorst wants to get him game time quickly.
At that is absolutely the right move if the coaching staff believe in his talent, as there is no point in him sitting and watching when he can help now and develop as a player.
On an afternoon where Rangers were comfortably the better side at Ibrox, in the sort of performance that was too often lacking after big away nights last season, it was the perfect opportunity to get King out there, and he responded with an important contribution to the injury-time fourth.
The jury seems to be out on Davies still so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see King add to his lone start so far in the league this year.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton had a few things to say about the penalty awarded in the first half while live on BT Sport.