Jon Daly delight at four-goal haul for Rangers

Rangers hitman Jon Daly rises from the turf to celebrate his third goal against Stenhousemuir at Ibrox on Saturday. Picture: SNS

Rangers 8-0 Stenhousemuir

Scorers: Rangers - Daly (3, 17, 51, 83), Little (38), Wallace (60), Templeton (87), Mohsni (90)

Referee: B Colvin

Attendance: 43,877

The Irishman was in unstoppable form in the Scottish League One clash on Saturday afternoon as he netted a hat-trick of headers before helping himself to another goal to claim the first quadruple of his professional career.

And he says he was thrilled to repay the home fans in a 43,877 crowd who watched the match for their continued backing this season by finally getting off the mark at home.

He said: “You always want to score in front of the home fans. They’ve been fantastic this year.

“Again, it was almost a full house at home so it was nice to put on a performance and, for me personally, it’s nice to score goals at Ibrox. I’ve got off the mark at home now and hopefully I can carry it on.”

Daly admits life at Rangers until now had not been quite as prolific in front of goal as some would have expected, but hopes his haul this weekend will act as a springboard for future games.

He added: “I feel there is a bit more to my game than just goals but I’m not silly, I know strikers are judged on goals. I’m the kind of striker who needs service and thankfully I got that in this game. I’ve had it in other games where I’ve probably left my shooting boots at home.

“I’ve managed to score goals now and hopefully that will help my confidence and I can go on from here.

“I’ve scored a few hat-tricks, maybe five or six, but that’s the first time I’ve scored four other than schoolboy football.

“I was delighted. There was great service. I’ve had a few chances in the last couple of games at Ibrox I’ve not put away and thankfully in this game they have gone in.”

Ian Black was back in a Rangers shirt for the first time since serving a three-match ban for breaching SFA gambling rules but it was Daly who stole the show. His first three goals were scored with his head and he notched his fourth when he slotted home a Nicky Clark cross.

Andy Little, Lee Wallace, David Templeton and Bilel Mohsni were also on the scoresheet, although there was some debate over whether Little’s effort was actually a Ross Smith own goal.

Daly said: “I haven’t seen it back but it’s quite harsh if it does get taken off him because he has followed in and put his body on the line. I always think it should go down as a striker’s goal.”

The match was played against a backdrop of protest in the stands with a section of the support demanding the removal of the current Rangers board.

Daly said: “We are out on the pitch just concentrating on the match and concentrating on the job at hand and trying to put a poor performance last week at Forfar out of our minds.

“We’ve done that. I’ve not really noticed anything.

“I’m happy I scored four goals and the team won 8-0. As far as I’m concerned, that’s all that matters to us. We got the three points again, which is fantastic.”