Tom Lawrence reveals the caring Rangers presence of Philippe Clement fuelling star to break trophy drought
dailyrecord.co.ukIn hindsight, Rangers ace Tom Lawrence now realises rushing back to play two huge games just five days apart was a mistake.But he’s confident it’s one he won’t be asked to repeat with Philippe Clement now in charge at Ibrox.
After a year out and with only 20-odd minutes of first-team action under his belt, the Welshman was thrown in for his first start of the season in September’s 2-0 win over St Johnstone.Having started and finished the game in Perth, former boss Michael Beale thought is safe to assume he’d be in decent shape to get kitted up for the following game in Gers' Europa League opener at home to Real Betis.
But it proved to be a costly error as the over-exertions that forced Lawrence off an hour into the 1-0 win over Manuel Pellegrini’s La Liga outfit turned out to be a fresh injury which required another six-week lay-off.It’s a lesson learned for the 29-year-old not to push the knee he first damaged 18 months ago at the end of a Premiership clash with Ross County too far while building himself back to prime fitness.
But then again, he knows that with Clement keeping a concerned eye on his progress, he won’t be asked to over do it before he’s good and ready.“Obviously I had a long period out, which is very frustrating,” said Lawrence after recoding his fifth start of the season in Sunday’s win over St Mirren.
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