Zambian forward Fashion Sakala has said he is comfortable across the front three positions.
And Sakala has dedicated Rangers’ hard faught 1-0 win over Livingston to his injured teammate Ianis Hagi.
During his time at both Nchanga Rangers and Zanaco, the 24 year old was mainly a winger.
It is the same wide left position he terrorized defenders at the CAF 2017 Under-20 African Cup of Nations.
After making his switch from Russian side Spartak Moscow to Oostende in Belgium, there was a position switch after the coach decided to deploy him a lone striker.
While former Rangers coach Steven Gerrard brought him to Ibrox as a striker, new coach Giovani Van Bronckhorst opted to play on the left against Livingston on Wednesday,
Sakala impressed and was named man of the match.
“I just follow what the boss says.
“I’m comfortable playing on the left or right or through the middle as a main striker, but I’m always told to keep on dribbling and shooting,” Sakala said in a post match interview.
“When you play against a team with a low block it’s always difficult to run in behind defenders, but we need to keep doing that.
“We always have to challenge ourselves. Last season, the club won the title and it was very important for us to get back to winning ways. We now need to maintain it and win another trophy.”
Sakala also dedicated the victory to injured teammate Ianis Hagi, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery.
“We knew it would be a tough game and it was special because of what happened to Ianis Hagi,” he said
“We talked about it before the game that if we won we would dedicate the result to him.
“It’s always tough when you don’t have some players, I think it’s special when we have a full squad available. We were missing Alfredo (Morelos) and (Joe) Aribo tonight but our main focus was fighting for the three points.
“Joe is one of the most important players for us, so we’re really happy to have him back and also Scott Arfield. Personally, I am very proud of him, he got an important goal for us.
“I expect this kind of pressure, especially playing for such a big club. The fans always expect us to score early, if you don’t do that in 10-15 minutes they maybe think we’re not doing well but we’re always patient and believe in each other that we will score goals.
Sakala was thrilled with the goal and showed his support for his team-mate by copying his trademark salute celebration as he branded it a ‘special’ night.
“When you get that pressure from the fans it’s nice because they push us to keep working hard and get the three points. They always expect us to win and I’m very happy that we’re given them what they deserve.”
