BEN Davies has stated he is ready to face Celtic at Parkhead next weekend after making a goal-scoring comeback from a five month injury lay-off in a 4-1 triumph against Kilmarnock at Ibrox today.

Centre half Davies replaced Leon Balogun at the start of the second-half in the cinch Premiership encounter with the fourth-placed Rugby Park club.  

The Englishman, a £3m signing from Liverpool back in 2022, netted his first goal for the Glasgow giants to make the scoreline 2-1 shortly after taking to the field.

It was a sweet moment for the 28-year-old, who had last featured in the Europa League victory over Real Betis in Spain way back in December, and he celebrated accordingly with his team mates.

Rangers manager Philippe Clement, who has lost his vice-captain Connor Goldson for the rest of the season, is hopeful that Balogun will be available for the Old Firm game at the Celtic Park.

But Davies confirmed he is ready to start against Brendan Rodgers’ side, who are three points ahead of their city rivals with three games remaining, if required and is looking forward to being involved again after so long out.    

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“It felt good to score,” he said. “I thought I got my first goal against Real Betis but the cameras didn’t show that! It was a bit of a scruffy finish, but was just the same sort of thing, following in.

“I kicked it, he’s saved it and then it’s hit me again. So it was a bit lucky in the end, but I’ll definitely take it. It’s a good feeling.

“It’s been a long time being injured. I was nearly back but then got a concussion in training, which then put me back another few weeks. So it’s been frustrating since then.

Glasgow Times: Rangers manager Philippe Clement, second left, applauds supporters with his players following the“But the lads and the manager have been great making me feel still part of it, wanted and needed. They’ve said all along I’ll still be needed before the end of the season.

“Today the 45 minutes I got was a good amount of minutes to help me get the match fitness back. If I’m needed from now on, hopefully that will stand me in good stead.

“I’m ready to start games now. I think that 45 minutes is a good building block. It’s just funny how things can change, from battling to be in squads to getting on today and contributing. It feels good."

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Asked how the Rangers players are feeling ahead of their match against Celtic, Davies said: “Feeling good. We have scored four good goals today, we have created lots of chances today.

“Obviously it is going to be a tough task to go and win but we are going to try and win there and see where we go from there.

“There are opportunities for two trophies between now and the end of the season. The next game is always the most important and that is that game. Obviously that is the important one now that we are going to focus on.

“We need to be good on the ball, we need to be aggressive, we need to attack defend well. We need to play a good game to win there. But we showed good mental strength to come back and win today.

“There was a lot going on first half. There was VAR, there was penalties and red card and all sorts going on. I have never seen a first half quite like it to be honest.

“I thought we stuck at it well and them going down to 10 men gave us more space second half. I thought we exploited it well and created lots of chances.”