I never wanted to leave and now I’ve seized my chance
FOR a man who grew up in Las Vegas, it’s fitting that Matt Polster should be Steven Gerrard’s ace in the hole at right-back as the title stakes are cranked up over the second half of the season.
Despite the fact the American arrived at Ibrox this time last year, his inclusion in the starting line-up in Wednesday night’s victory over Ross County still felt like a step into the unknown.
It was his first-ever start in the Premiership — and the first time he had started a match of any description since a Betfred Cup win over East Fife in mid-August.
So little is still known about the 26-year-old former Chicago Fire man, who has one cap for his country to date.
By and large, he has been kept under wraps.
Yet, if Rangers fans felt a sense of apprehension around the absence of skipper James Tavernier, Polster’s contribution was positive enough to suggest he’s an able deputy.
It’s a role which Jon Flanagan has consistently failed to make his own. Hooked at half-time against Hearts last Sunday, Flanagan didn’t even make the bench against County on Wednesday night.
Having impressed off the bench at Tynecastle and then from the start in midweek, Polster looks likely to retain the jersey against Aberdeen at Ibrox tomorrow.
Insisting that he was unaware of any potential loan move away from the club earlier this month, he has vowed to stay and battle Tavernier once the skipper returns from an appendix problem.
‘In the media, the manager has said that I am not going anywhere now,’ said Polster. ‘That is what he has told me.
‘For me, I never wanted to leave the club and my goal was always to stay here and make it work here and be as successful as I could. I was never looking to leave.
‘I have been working really hard in training and had to be resilient because it has been tough to find minutes. To be on the pitch and play in front of those fans was special.
‘I have just been working hard, trying to put my head down and wait for a chance.
‘That chance came against Hearts and I thought I did really well in that game.
‘The staff gave me a chance again and I thought I did well. With each chance, I want to progress.
‘That was my first 90 minutes in the Premiership, so I want to build on that and start to get a rhythm.
‘It has been tough because I haven’t started many games to get that rhythm, so I’m looking forward to the next game and if I get picked again I will try and do the same thing or do better.’
The obvious assumption will be that, as and when Tavernier returns to full fitness, he will slot straight back into the team. If he’s fit, he plays.
That has been the way of things now for many a year at Rangers. Yet, you wonder how much it would benefit the Englishman to have some genuine competition at right-back.
Those defensive lapses which can occasionally blight his game would perhaps be ironed out if he felt the heat of a rival breathing down his neck. Insisting that he still has a lot more to give, Polster continued: ‘Coming here, there is more to it and you have to adapt to a different culture, coaching staff, team-mates, style of life.
‘I think it took time, especially with Tav in front of me playing well and scoring goals and getting assists.
‘You are not going to change things when you are winning games. That is what we were doing at the beginning of the season, so I had to be patient and wait for that opportunity.
‘I think I can give more and that will come with games. I thought I did well on Wednesday night but I was a little rusty, some of the passes or crosses I made weren’t as perfect as I would have liked.
‘I was being as positive as I could on the pitch and, with a run of games, I think I can prove to people I can play at this level.
‘As a young boy, I wanted to play in the UK, whether that was in Scotland or England.
‘I have always had a dream of playing over here and for it to be at this kind of club makes it all the more special.
‘The support is huge and it is a dream of mine to be successful here.’
There were suggestions earlier this month that Polster could be heading for a January exit at Ibrox as Gerrard looked to trim what had become a bloated squad.
The player himself admits that he did harbour slight concerns about his future when his wedding back home in Vegas at the start of the month forced him to miss Rangers’ training camp in Dubai.
Having tied the knot with wife Brittany, Polster said: ‘The wedding was unbelievable and the coaching staff gave me a little extra time off, which was really nice.
‘Did I think that missing Dubai would maybe hamper my chances? Yeah, I think so.
‘The issue was that the wedding was planned a year in advance, so I was going to get married on January 4.
‘With the time change, by the time I would have gone to Dubai, it really wouldn’t have made sense. I think the coaching staff knew that and they were generous enough to give me that time off.
‘We stayed in Vegas for a couple of days after the wedding and then we went to my wife’s parents house in LA for a couple of days.
‘Jordan (Milsom, fitness coach) gave me a massive fitness programme, so I did as much as I could but you want to play games to prove yourself. It has all worked out.’