Juninho Bacuna has had to scrap and fight for his chance to grab his moment in the Ibrox spotlight.
Now the Rangers ace just hopes he’s made enough of an impression on Steven Gerrard he gets his chance to shine at Hampden.
Gerrard spent eight months chasing the Huddersfield ace before finally getting his man in late August.
However, it’s been a stop-start introduction to life at Ibrox for the Dutch-born Curacao international, who managed just one start in his first eight appearances.
He finally barged his way into a Premiership starting XI for Sunday’s Ross County clash and repaid his manager’s faith with an impressive display, capped off with his first goal for the club.
Now having at last grasped a place in Gerrard’s line-up, he’s determined he will not let it slip ahead of the Premier Sports Cup semi-final showdown with Hibs after the international break.
Bacuna – who rifled home Gers’ third goal after a sweet exchange with Joe Aribo – said: “Yeah it was a great feeling. I’ve been waiting a long time to get my moment but I got my chance and I took it.
“When I heard I was starting I decided I was just going to play my game, show what I can do and help the team.
“We’ve got a lot of midfielders and No.10s, so every day there is a fight in training for who is going to play.
“The manager each game is going to change some players so you have to accept it and try to make it as hard as possible in training and games when you get your moment to show it.
“But I’ve been here two months and been working hard in training, showing what I can do. I’ve been doing the hard work, doing extra.
“I got my moment, played 90 minutes, which felt good after a long time. I got a goal too so yeah, I feel settled and ready to crack on.”
Gers have failed miserably to make an impression in Scotland’s domestic cup competitions since Gerrard took over in 2018.
But Bacuna is well aware of the desire to right that wrong this season.
He said: “It’s going to be a hard game, an important game. We need to be at our best, show what we can do on the ball and make some goals.
“It doesn’t matter how (we do it) but we need to go to the final. That’s what’s important.”
The former Groningen ace has been made to wait as Gerrard persisted with Steven Davis, Glen Kamara and Joe Aribo in the engine room. The fight for places will intensify now Ryan Jack has made his long-awaited return after eight months out.
But former Ibrox favourite Neil McCann believes Bacuna might just have carved out a niche for himself after giving a demonstration of
his ability to find the net from midfield, a quality the champions have sorely lacked this term.
McCann said: “He looks like there’s a few goals in him. I really feel he is the type of player that from the centre of the pitch is capable of bursting into the box or around about the box and scoring goals.
“He grew in confidence against County, he showed his stature when he dealt with the bad pass early on, 1-0 down, it didn’t affect him.
“The give-and-go for his goals was good. You can see he’s not even looking with his head – he’s aware of his surroundings. It’s a really good strike and a really good performance.”
Gers can put their feet up now for a couple of weeks while international action takes over. And McCann reckons Gerrard will be able to rest easy having seen his side maintain their four-point lead at the summit.
He said: “That little cushion at the top of the table is important.
“It’s nice when you go into the international break and you can see yourselves sitting high in the league.
“They’ve got that League Cup game coming up and Steven will place that high on his priority list because it’s a trophy I believe he’ll want to win.
“So they’ll be coming back to another huge game. You don’t get any free hits here at Rangers but it’s nice for him to be able to send them away on a win.”
The League Cup semi represents the start of a hectic festive schedule that will see Gerrard’s team squeeze 12 games into six weeks. But McCann’s former Gers team-mate Alan Hutton believes Rangers are primed to weather that tough run.
He said: “There are a lot of positives from this game, one of the biggest is getting Jack back on the scene.
“It was about getting minutes into the right players, resting the ones you can and getting ready to go again because we know how demanding the Christmas period is. There are some big games in there but it’s looking good for Rangers.”
