Rangers defender Neraysho Kasanwirjo grateful for James Tavernier support

Neraysho Kasanwirjo appreciated the pep talk from Rangers father James Tavernier ahead of his first William Hill Premiership start for the Light Blues.

The 22-year-old Dutch defender has been mostly used from the bench since arriving on loan from Feyenoord in the summer.

However, Philippe Clement started with the Netherlands Under-21 player at right-back in place of captain Tavernier for the visit of St Mirren on Sunday, where Vaclav Cerny scored the winner for the home side after Mohamed Diomande’s opener had been cancelled out by an Alex Gogic header.

Kasanwirjo, known as ‘Nana’, revealed long-term skipper Tavernier, 33 at the end of the month, offered words of encouragement.

He said: “Yeah, he (Tavernier) came to me before the game and he said just enjoy the game.

“He said to me don’t look at it like I replaced James Tavernier, just play for the team. And he said, just enjoy.

“Yeah, I think it was a lot (helpful).

“He’s the father of the team. I’m the young boy.

“So it’s good for the young boys to have somebody like this.

“I have played a lot of games already, but now just competing with everybody on the team to get minutes and make the good impression.

“Yeah, I want to start every week, but it is up to the coach and up to me how I train to give the best impression of myself.”

Rangers remain six points behind leaders Celtic and Aberdeen as they prepare to visit Pittodrie on Wednesday night.

Under boss Jimmy Thelin who arrived in the summer, the Dons are unbeaten in 15 games in all competitions this season – 14 wins and a draw – and are on the back of a late 1-0 win over Dundee United at the weekend.

Kasanwirjo, who ended the game against the Buddies at centre-back after Tavernier eventually came off the bench, insists he and his team-mates will be fired up for what is sure to be a hard fought encounter.

He said: “Yeah, of course, every game is a fight, not only Aberdeen, but for example, the game against St Mirren was a fight as well. You see that we didn’t win that easy.

“I think every game is a massive game. This (St Mirren) game, last Thursday, Wednesday, the Sunday again. So we have to compete every day.

“It is only about us. We have to play well. And as I said before, every game is a massive game, not only Aberdeen.

“So we look game by game. Sunday was the game against St Mirren. Wednesday is Aberdeen, where we have to compete again.”