Fabio Silva stuns BBC pundit with ‘ridiculous’ encore for Rangers v Livingston
Lee McCulloch was stunned as Fabio Silva followed up his first Rangers strike with a “ridiculous” effort that almost brought a quick-fire second.
The Wolves loanee broke the deadlock against Livingston on 3 February as he reacted quickest at a corner late in the first half to turn it home with his left foot, then as the Ibrox crowd were still celebrating he almost added a stunning second from outside the box.
Ryan Jack played the Portuguese youngster in down the right flank and the 21-year-old hit an ambitious curling strike from range towards the far post with the outside of his boot, to the amazement of McCulloch reacting live on BBC Radio Scotland.
McCulloch said against the noise from the Ibrox stands (3.44pm): “I can hardly hear. Silva’s just been played in brilliantly from Ryan Jack and he’s tried a ridiculous effort with the outside of his right foot when he’s running away from the goal.
“It wasn’t too far away to be fair to him. It looks as if he’s playing with a bit of confidence.”
Silva puts some fears to bed for Rangers
Silva’s early arrival on loan in the January window only felt like a partial solution to the extensive injury issues up front for Philippe Clement.
A new number nine looked like it was going to be necessary before the deadline, especially once Abdallah Sima’s goals were also lost to injury, as the 21-year-old had only scored once over the first half of the season.
But his display against Livi was impressive and showed signs that he can be a genuine alternative to the improving Cyriel Dessers in leading the Rangers line.
As well as his goal he linked play well in the first half and he also sent an acrobatic second-half effort narrowly wide of the post as well.
There will no-doubt be tougher challenges ahead than David Martindale’s bottom side but in the first game since the window shut without the Light Blues landing a striker, despite all the speculation over a run at Lawrence Shankland, it was a welcome suggestion that Clement’s apparent satisfaction with the youngster as an option might be well founded.
In other Rangers news, a new arrival is seen as the “perfect” answer to a major Ibrox blow by manager Clement.
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