Boyds Target

[ian1964 10,720]

WALTER SMITH today admitted that it's not outwith the bounds of possibility for Kris Boyd to one day overtake Ally McCoist as Rangers greatest scorer.

 

Boyd has a long way to go before he matches the achievements of Super Ally, the current assistant manager, who holds the Rangers record for both league and European goals and netted a staggering 355 goals in his 15 years as a player at Ibrox.

 

However, 81 goals in 114 matches - including a hat-trick at the weekend, shows that Boyd has an impressie strike rate

 

Smith said: "He's got a career to go through but the initial part would indicate that, if he carries on playing at Rangers as long as Ally did, then he has an opportunity to beat that statistically.

 

"Ally had to break a few goalscoring records here to get himself up there and Kris will have to work like that. But that's a long way down the line."

 

Boyd has often been criticised for his lack of work-rate in the past but Smith insists the striker deserves credit for trying to improve his overall game this season.

 

He added: "I've said on many occasions that there are aspects of his game that he had to improve on but his goalscoring was something nobody could complain about.

 

"He's a terrific finisher, one of the best I've been involved with. His overall level of play has improved as well.

 

"He had bits of his game that he had to improve on and he's worked at that since the start of the season.

 

"He's improved that aspect and it's not interfered with his level of goals. Long may that continue."

 

Boyd's partnership with Kenny Miller proved productive against Inverness as Rangers riot with five goals in 45 minutes, with Boyd's three goals sandwiched between strikes from Nacho Novo and Miller.

 

Smith now hopes his front pairing will lead the way after admitting to concerns about Rangers' lack of goals earlier in the campaign.

 

"The partnership is starting to develop," said the Rangers boss.

 

"In quite a number of the games this season we have had a lot of possession of the ball and never quite managed to get the goals at the end of it, so it was nice to do that on Saturday.

 

"It's something we will have to continue to work at and emphasise that good possession of the ball isn't necessarily going to win you the game."

 

Dundee United are the visitors on Tuesday night as Rangers attempt to make the most of their game in hand by moving level with Celtic at the summit of the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League.

 

Smith said: "Dundee United were a wee bit like ourselves and had a slow start to the season but they've settled down in the last six or seven weeks and are back to the form they showed last season.

 

"We always get a really difficult game from them, they are always well-organised and have a good attitude.

 

"They're well-motivated and have some good players in their team so it will be a good game tomorrow night and one that we're all looking forward to."

[johnnyk 158]

If he stays here the rest of his career and keeps his scoring rate he has a very good chance but there's a long way to go and anything can happen. He also has very long way to be compared to super Ally but he's going the right way. I for one hope he gets close or betters the record.......

[Super_Ally 0]

If he does then it points to Rangers being very succesful.

 

Although Coisty is my all time favourite player and it would be disappointing to see him lose his records.

[calscot 0]

Is that why he's on the bench so much until recently? Maybe McCoist wants to even up the time he spent on the bench before allowing Boyd to have a crack at beating his record...