John Souttar earns emphatic Rangers snipers defence as Connor Goldson takes aim at keyboard warriors

Convinced Connor Goldson believes John Souttar will be a Rangers star in the wake of his nightmare competitive debut against Livingston.

The 25-year-old toiled in his battles with Joel Nouble before being subbed off with the Ibrox side trailing 1-0. But Goldson has launched an emphatic defence of his defensive partner despite his early struggles at the Tony Macaroni Arena. Souttar earned a lofty reputation as one of the finest stoppers in Scottish football during his eye-catching displays with Hearts.

And Goldson is convinced the same will follow at Rangers as he took aim at early cynics who flooded social media with criticism of the Scotland international's performance in West Lothian. Souttar is in line to start against Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League in Belgium on Tuesday night.

Speaking ahead of the game against the Belgians, he said: “I think John’s settling really well and I’ve been really impressed by him. From the first week he trained after we came back from Portugal you could see his qualities. I was disappointed on Saturday when I saw a few things on the internet. People were talking badly after just one game. He probably had a few mistakes but we’ve all been there.

“I have been there myself. I have been written off by Rangers fans. I see him every single day and I see his qualities. I have no doubts at all he will be an absolutely unbelievable signing for this club. He’s an international player, he’s 25 and he’s already played so many games in Scottish football so we know what we’re signing.

“He’s joined Rangers which comes with pressure but people can’t judge him after one game. Livingston is not the easiest place to go – the pitch and the way they play – but as I say we have all seen his