Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland claims he’s hoping to leave his mark on Rangers after a series of failed transfer links.
The Scotland international striker, 28, is set to visit Ibrox with the Jambos in the Scottish Premiership this weekend as they look to bounce back from a Tynecastle humbling at the hands of Celtic.
Speaking ahead of the trip to Rangers, Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland insists his side are in no mood to repeat the 4-1 defeat as they prepare for a crunch Premiership clash at Ibrox.
“We need to take it as a wee warning really,” Shankland said. “Celtic didn’t have to work too hard to score their goals. That’s disappointing for us. We came into the game late on, but the scoreline still favoured them heavily.
“Don’t get me wrong, at times some of their one-touch play was really good and they were on it. And when they’ve got that quality, it can cause you problems. There’s no shame in that. But when we look at ourselves, we need to be defensively more solid.”
Hearts skipper Lawrence Shankland ready to bounce back v Rangers
It was Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland who scored the goal against Celtic and it’s only raised more questions about Rangers’ failure to move for the forward.
Linked with a move to Ibrox since his days with Dunfermline, Rangers were once again mentioned as Lawrence Shankland suitors heading into the summer.
With the Ibrox side short on the homegrown quota, and the club’s new-look frontline floundering, Lawrence Shankland represents one of the best Scottish-based options around.
A lethal, free-scoring striker on his day, the forward is also capable of coming up big against Celtic and now Lawrence Shankland wants to show Rangers what they’re missing with Hearts.
“[The defeat to Celtic is] done now and we have to move on to a big week,” said Shankland.
“We can use it in the right way ahead of going to Ibrox. We’ll definitely have to improve to get a result against Rangers.
“When you play the Old Firm, you know they have got that quality. If you are not on the top of your game, they can make things really difficult for you.
“But we need to go in confident. We can’t think about Sunday and think ‘that’s going to happen again’. We can’t do that. We move on. It’s a completely different game, a different team. It will be a tough ask, but we’ll be looking to go there and get a result.”
Lawrence Shankland has made 15 appearances for Hearts this season, scoring six goals with Rangers alternative Cyriel Dessers showing shoots of recovery at the weekend.
