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Liam Kelly was delighted to finally make his senior Rangers debut after being called into the starting line-up at short notice for the 1-0 victory over Dundee at Ibrox.
Jack Butland had to leave the stadium after the warm-up due to a personal matter so Kelly, who came through Rangers Academy before leaving in 2018, stepped up and kept a clean sheet in the Light Blues’ win.
Speaking to RangersTV after the game, he said: “This is what we work for, so I am really delighted, obviously for 20 years ago I drove through the gates at the training centre, so it was an unbelievable feeling, it was amazing.
“It was everything I had imagined, the game was completely different from a Rangers point of view, I have played here a few times for other teams, and you don’t have as much control in the game as that. It was an amazing feeling, obviously my mum, my dad and my granda took me to everything when I was younger so that one was for them and I’m so happy.
“I need to say a big thanks to Colin the goalie coach, obviously we do a lot of work. I am a better goalie now than when I first came. You need to be ready, ideally, I want the game to go with no drama and if anything, ever happens to Jack then the fans, players and my teammates know that there’s not going to be any hassle in the game.”
On the 90 minutes this afternoon, which saw Vaclav Cerny’s goal prove to be the difference, Kelly continued: “I never had much to do thanks to how good the defence was in front of me, ideally, we would’ve liked to have scored more goals, so we had more control in the game.
“We gave Dundee a bit of hope because we didn’t score, they still believe, and they press a bit harder but ultimately, we got the three points, and I am delighted with that.
“I never had a save to make and I thank the boys in front of me for that. The boys tried their best to score but obviously we never scored as much as we would’ve liked.
“We hit the bar four times but if we do score then it changes the whole complexion of the game. We gave them hope by not scoring and they have got a couple of really good players as well, so it was a good game, glad we got the win, it could’ve been a lot more but three points.”
We spoke to Liam when he returned to Rangers last summer about his Academy Journey – CLICK HERE to read an extended interview with the Scotland international
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