Ryan Jack joined Rangers to win trophies and Sunday is his chance to deliver

Rangers' Ryan Jack scored against his former Aberdeen on Wednesday. Picture: Alan Harvey / SNS

There was no firmer illustration that Jack has now transitioned to fully-fledged Ranger than his reaction after putting the Ibrox side two goals ahead at Pittodrie on Wednesday night.

It was his first ever goal against Aberdeen but he was clearly not interested in the trend for muted celebrations out of respect for all his old friends and colleagues, as we so often see in England.

After tapping home in front of the Richard Donald stand at the beach end of the ground, the midfielder wheeled away to enjoy the moment with the Rangers supporters housed to his right.

He did a pretty good job of jumping as high as a dune in joy at having struck his fifth goal of the season. It’s continuing to prove a productive campaign for Jack and he’s desperate for it to get even better this weekend when he lines up against Celtic in Sunday’s Betfred Cup final at Hampden Park.

A trophy is all that is missing since Jack committed what Aberdeen fans tend to think is the unforgivable sin of leaving Pittodrie for Rangers.

Jack has flourished in his new surroundings and, while he made his debut for Scotland as an Aberdeen player, he’s only become an established member of the international team in recent times. A winner’s medal would truly underline why he made the decision to leave the club he had been with since he was eight years old to join their most bitter rivals. He has suffered a backlash both on the pitch and off it and this perhaps informed his reaction to scoring in midweek.

“When I signed for the club, it was an opportunity, a club that can go places, can compete in Europe – as we have – and hopefully go and deliver trophies,” he explained. “So far, it’s not been the case on the trophy front but Sunday’s all about the squad and I’m sure if we turn up and play as well as we can then we can get a good result.”

Jack has played in a victory over Celtic for Rangers before. Indeed, he scored the winner, his first goal for the club, at Ibrox in a league game just before Hogmanay last year. But he knows experiences such as that one count for little given the significance of Sunday’s final. That goal, welcome as it was since it gave Rangers their first win against Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic, mattered for little in the final analysis since they trailed a long way back in second place at the end of the campaign.

“It’s a cup final and a trophy at stake so it’s a wee bit different on that front,” said Jack. “We’ve shown before that we can compete at that level, domestically and in Europe, so there’s  nothing to fear.

“The supporters are desperate and we’re desperate as well,” he added. “We’re hungry. I think it’s important that we go and play and show how hungry we are. What an opportunity to go and deliver for our fans the first trophy in a long time.”

Jack admitted he and his team-mates are still scratching their heads after the 2-2 draw with Aberdeen two days ago. His strike after half an hour seemed to put Rangers on easy street. But the Ibrox side lapsed back into a worrying trait of failing to drive home an advantage and allowed Aberdeen to grab a point from what had begun to look like the jaws of heavy, dispiriting defeat. Jon Gallagher halved the deficit before half-time and then the dependable Andrew Considine, Jack’s old team-mate, grabbed a draw on his 502nd appearance for the club.

Sam Cosgrove could even have put Aberdeen ahead but missed the best chance of the second half when his header flashed wide.

“The game [initially] looked like how we wanted it to be having worked on it all week in training,” reflected Jack. “We were excellent in that initial period but from half-time onwards it just wasn’t good enough.

“First and foremost, we can’t expect to always come away to tough places like Pittodrie and expect to control the full game,” he added. “There will be times where it’s going to  be tough and we’ll have to  dig in.

“Going forward, we’re going to have to cut out the slack goals that we’ve conceded over the last few weeks. I’m sure we’ll address it and pick the bones out of it.”

One positive is there is so little time to stew over the careless dropping of two points. Rangers have to immediately switch focus to the cup final, something Gerrard permitted them to do only after the final whistle at Pittodrie. Until then, the clash with Aberdeen was their cup final. Now the next game really is a cup final.

“It’s important that we put it behind us before Sunday as it’s such a huge game and there’s no time to let this affect us,” said Jack.

“I’m sure at some point we’ll address what happened and how we lost the goals but Sunday is a massive game and it’s important we go into that with clear heads. Wednesday was a tough one to take but there’s a lot to look forward to.”