THE hair may be significantly more salt than pepper these days, but memories of the time he made himself a hero against Rangers as a youngster are still fresh in Keith Lasley’s mind.

The Motherwell midfielder turned assistant manager had just turned 22 in December of 2001 when he rocketed a rare strike from around 35 yards – his own estimation – past Stefan Klos and into the top corner.

It didn’t prove enough for victory on the day, but the goal contributed towards a more than creditable 2-2 draw against a star-studded Rangers outfit in what was Alex McLeish’s first game in charge of the Ibrox club.

It is an experience he is only too happy to recount, and he will be urging the current crop of players under his charge to seize their own opportunity of making a name for themselves when they face Rangers at Fir Park today.

“I’ve got the date and time memorised!” said Lasley. “We drew that match 2-2 and I scored that into Stefan Klos, so not a bad goalie to score into. It was a fantastic moment for me. Scoring a goal in any game was fantastic, heck, scoring a goal in training was a fantastic moment for me.

“So, to get one like that in such a high-profile match was amazing. There was a big crowd and you have a lot of family there, so it is a great moment.

“We hope that someone can step up like that for us on Sunday, and maybe not put it right in the top corner from 35 yards like I did, but a tap-in would do.

“It is a chance for the players to make a name for themselves. The cameras are there, and the exposure will be amazing, so what a chance to go and be the story on the day and make yourself the big name.

“As a footballer you work very hard to be on this sort of platform, so our message to the guys is to go and be the hero and be the one to take the headlines.”

Much has been made of the boost that Liverpool hero Steven Gerrard has given not only to Rangers but to the profile of the Scottish game, but Lasley for one has a particular reason not pay any due reverence to the Anfield icon this afternoon.

“I actually grew up an Everton supporter, so I was never his biggest fan to be honest!” he said. “Certainly, on a professional level I respected him hugely, but purely as a football fan he wasn’t my favourite player.

“I owe him one for all those Merseyside derby goals to be fair, particularly as he was an Everton fan himself as a young lad, so hopefully I can get a bit of payback on Sunday.

“As a coach, to come up against people of the calibre of Steven and Gary McAllister is brilliant, you want to test yourself against the best and hopefully we can come out on top.”

Motherwell had some joy against Rangers last season, most notably in their Betfred Cup semi-final victory, by taking advantage of the soft centre that the Ibrox club developed. They will likely provide a more formidable resistance to the Steelmen’s robust style this term under Gerrard, but that didn't stop club captain Peter Hartley indulging in an ill-judged jibe at Fabio Cardoso during the week over that encounter, and the broken nose that he was on the receiving end of from Ryan Bowman.

Lasley was quick to downplay his skipper’s comments though, and he insists his side will go out to play the game in their usual uncompromising - but fair - style.

“I think Pete himself knew after it, and you could tell through his apology that he regretted saying it,” he said. “At the time, he’s maybe thought it was a tongue-in-cheek throwaway comment without realising what he was actually saying, so I think it is right that he has apologised.

“It’s certainly not the way that Motherwell want to project ourselves as a team or as a club, and I think Pete’s apology summed that up.

“We want Sunday to be about the game, about the football. What was forgot a lot last season was that we did play some decent football and we did go about our business in the proper manner.

“We want to focus on doing that again on Sunday, and hopefully that will be the case.

“When it is coming from within though we can’t moan too much about it. Yeah, we want to be competitive and we want to play with a tempo and an intensity in our game, but we never want it to cross the line and we would never go out to purposely step over that line."