Nathan Patterson enjoyed a superb second half at Hampden to make his place at Ibrox look even more assured last night as a barnstorming second 45 saw the Scots take a 3-2 victory away from the 90.
But our interest is with Patterson, and despite a shaky first half again (his second in a row after a tricky opening 45 v Hibs) just like v Hibs he recovered and had a fine match defensively and attack wise to hike his value at Ibrox up yet again.
Furthermore, with Patterson now affirming his place as Scotland’s first choice width on the right, be it as RB or RWB, it makes benching him at Ibrox look even more difficult for Steven Gerrard.
You simply cannot leave a £15M and rising asset, reared by Auchenhowie and developing into a potentially world class talent who is first choice for his nation on the Govan bench in order to play James Tavernier.
The captain hasn’t been in vintage form the past few months, while Patterson has been evolving brilliantly, and now that he’s doing it patently for his country, benching him comes close to impossible.
It also makes him more lucrative – he’s this good at 19, how good will he be at 25? And what will his value be to potential suitors.
99% of Rangers fans would sell Tavernier in a heartbeat to keep hold of Patterson, with likely anarchy against the powers-that-be if the club sold the youngster to preserve the captain.
If Patterson keeps on excelling for his country, both Steve Clark and Stevie G simply cannot stop playing him.
What a prize this kid is turning into.
There’s been way too many errors from Patterson in his recent games, for him tol start ahead of Tav for Rangers.
Tav has better delivery, far tighter in possession and reads the game much better.
As Gerrard has already said, Nathan may well be the best Scottish right back, but Tav is the best right back in Scotland.
I’d say that 90% of Rangers supporters that actually go to the games agree with him.
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