Ryan's Ibrox experience
Sunday, 16th Mar 2014"I never want to see anybody getting injured but you have to take your chance when it comes and I look forward to that."
Ryan Goodfellow was thrilled to come on at Ibrox on Saturday. Not just was he about to double the number of minutes of his first team football, it also fulfilled a boyhood dream to play there.
When first choice goalkeeper Ryan Scully injured his right foot after just two minutes, the 20 year old was thrown on in front of a crowd of 44110. Quite a change from the 60 who turned out to watch him on Tuesday night in the Under 20s match at home to Partick Thistle. Ryan grabbed the chance to come on off the bench claiming that he is ready for action in every game. He said:-
"I was always going to be switched on for it. I was delighted to play but disappointed with the result. I was a wee bit nervous to start off with obviously but once I settled down to my game I was fine."
Ryan's previous experience was after coming on for Scully at Airdrie after 50 minutes of the match in November this season. After a few confidence building touches he had a remarkably quiet time against the newly crowned League One champions.
"To be fair I did not have that much to do, the defence was very good today. We kept the ball, probably the best that we have kept it all season to be honest. We just did not create enough in the final third but defensively we were really good and that kept my job quiet. There was not much I could not with either goal."
The opening goal in time added at the end of the first half was an unstoppable strike that Steven Smith sent into the top corner from 28 yards. The second was scored by debut boy Callum Gallagher who had also put a late one past Ryan in the U20 League game played between the clubs at East End Park just before Christmas. Ryan continued:-
"The second goal I just tried to spread myself but he has played it low and hard into me. I can't see myself being at fault for that. I thought that we were very good today it was just the free kick that we gave away. Steven Smith took the free kick very well and the second one came as we pushed on towards the end and they caught us on the break. Apart from that they didn't really create very much to threaten us."
Ryan Scully dislocated a toe in an early mix up between him and his central defender Callum Morris. The keeper had to stick out his foot to keep Rangers away but was caught by an opponent in the process and there was no way he could continue. That created the opportunity for the keeper from Earlston and given the nature of his colleague's injury he may be in for more appearances:-
"I never want to see anybody getting injured but you have to take your chance when it comes and I look forward to that."
The opposition paid him great respect by not taking long pop shots at the inexperienced keeper in the way that might have been expected. He remarked how different this game had been from the previous league and cup games between the sides this season:-
""The last few times we have been kind of overrun by Rangers but we have always played well. It has just been silly little mistakes but today it wasn't a surprise because we have played well all season. We have kept the ball well against everybody we have played against."
As a one time Rangers supporter Ryan thoroughly enjoyed the chance to play at Ibrox, he added:-
"I had been on the bench here a few times but this is the first time that I have played here. It was brilliant, I have always wanted to play here so it was a dream come true. I used to come here from the Borders but I was limited in the number of times that I could come up because I had games at the weekend. I got to a few European games during the week."
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