Wolves' forgotten man makes big target north of the border

The Portuguese striker, who arrived in Glasgow from Wolves on loan last month, opened his Gers account after 40 minutes when he pounced on a loose ball inside the box to slam the ball past Livi keeper Shamal George.

Winger Rabbi Matondo added a second before the break with a deflected strike from distance and midfielder Todd Cantwell knocked in a Ross McCausland cut-back on 56 minutes to take Rangers to within three points of Celtic with a game in hand.

The Viaplay Cup winners also have the Scottish Cup in their sights and welcome Ayr United to Ibrox next Saturday.

Rangers have won five in a row since the turn of the year and Silva said: “It was amazing, the most important thing was the victory.

“We have had good results and it is important we continue with these with good moments.

“Everyone is involved in this and doing everything for Rangers to win titles in the final part of the season.

“The most important thing was the victory and the clean sheet and of course I am very happy to score my first goal because it is important.

“It was a little bit different for me because I played against three big centre-backs and it was a bit difficult to move.

“I like to move so they held me, but it was nice to be aware in the box, to feel when the ball comes and after I scored, I was very happy.

“Starting with me and finishing on Jack Butland we did a brilliant job in defensive and offensive, so the most important thing is the winning and now we have to prepare for the next game.”

Rangers’ game in hand is against Ross County on February 14 but Gers fans will be excited about the possibility of going top of the table against Aberdeen at Ibrox on Tuesday might, albeit Celtic, who drew 1-1 with the Dons at Pittodrie earlier in the day, take on Hibernian the following night.

Boss Philippe Clement said: “If you start to think about others, you start to lose things yourself. We are not going to fall into that trap as a team.

“I am happy with the team also in that way, I don’t hear any name of another team during the week.

“Everybody is focused on Rangers and not on his ego but on the team. There is a really good team mentality now in that dressing room and I am going to be really tight on that so it stays that way.

“That is the reason we get results. The moment we start to focus on others we can lose that.”