Rangers defender Danny Wilson ready to fight for his place

DANNY WILSON insists he is ready to battle Bruno Alves and Fabio Cardoso for a slot in the Rangers defence.

The former Scotland international made his return after three months out injured on Tuesday as Gers took on St Johnstone in a behind-closed-doors friendly.

Pedro Caixinha’s side sank to a narrow 1-0 loss at their Auchenhowie training base but the 45-minute run-out was a huge relief for Wilson as he prepares to fight for his place.

Speaking to RangersTV, the 25-year-old said: “I was delighted to get back playing because it has been quite a while now, it is 11 weeks since I got injured.

“It has been a lot of hard work with the physios so I am just glad to be back out there.

“I have been back training for 10 days with the boys so this has been my first 45 minutes and hopefully I can move forward from here and get more minutes over the next few games before the season starts. I have obviously missed a few games so I am just playing catch-up now in terms of fitness.

“There was always going to be new defenders coming in, I spoke to the manager at the end of last season and he said he was going to bring some players in.

“The new boys have come in and we expect there to be even more competition for places this season and I am no different.

“I just need to concentrate on getting myself fit and giving myself the best opportunity to get back in the team.

“You can see Fabio is a good player with good qualities and I think we complement each other quite well.

“Bruno has come in the other day too and David Bates has also been playing too so there is good competition there for places which should bring out the best in everybody.”

The Rangers support have been hoping for brighter prospects this term after last year’s nightmare campaign.

But the alarm bells set off by the club’s humiliating Europa League exit to Luxembourg minnows Progres Niederkorn were triggered again by their friendly defeat to Saints.

Only midfielder Ryan Jack – whose blunder set up Callum Hendry to fire the late winner for Tommy Wright’s team – played the whole 90 minutes as Gers ended the game with a backline of Daniel Candieas, David Bates, Ross McCrorie and Jordan Thompson.

But Wilson is refusing to push the panic button just yet – although he admits the Light Blues do need to sharpen up their shooting boots.

He said: “I thought we played quite well in the first-half. We created quite a few opportunities and then made a lot of changes in the second-half.

“There were another couple of good chances in that half and there was a raft of changes in personnel.

“With boys coming on and boys going off that changes the game a wee bit and there was a slight mistake for the goal and these things happen.

“I don’t think the result reflected the game, I thought we were fairly comfortable and created some good chances but were just unable to take them.

“Going forward if we could start putting them away then it will look a lot better for us.

“Finishing our chances was probably a problem last season as well but these games are practise games so hopefully when the season comes round we’ll be there.”