Cantwell enjoys being a piece of the action with Rangers

Todd Cantwell looks forward to the next test in his Rangers career knowing the Light Blues will be well backed at Easter Road on Wednesday night.

The 25-year-old former Norwich midfielder helped the Gers to a 3-1 cinch Premiership win over Kilmarnock at Ibrox on Saturday as Michael Beale’s side responded positively to last week’s disappointing ViaPlay Cup final defeat to Old Firm rivals Celtic at Hampden Park.

The Light Blues led at the interval against Killie through goals from defender Connor Goldson, attacker Fashion Sakala and a James Tavernier penalty.

However, second-bottom Killie, who have not won away from home in the league this season, came back after the break and defender Jeriel Dorsett headed in what turned out to be a consolation goal.

Next up is Hibernian and Cantwell, who signed for the Ibrox club in January, knows a big Gers support will be in Leith.

The midfielder told RangersTV: “It has been brilliant, and it goes without saying, the away support is incredible.

“I am just looking forward to every game at the moment, playing football again and having a smile on my face is exactly what I came here for.

“It had been a long while where I hadn’t had a consistent run of games, but I am starting to feel match-fit again, which is really good.

“I am starting to feel I have a better understanding with the players which is something that is only going to get better and, personally, I feel like I am moving in the right direction.”

Cantwell believes Rangers’ first-half performance against Derek McInnes’ side, who are second-bottom of the table, can bolster belief for the run-in.

He said: “I thought we were electric at the start – really positive with our play, our possession and it was really nice to be a part of the intensity off the ball.

“I felt like we made it really horrible for them in the first half, and all in all, it was a very good performance.

“We have got to build a baseline for our intensity off the ball, our class on the ball and I think the first half was a great reflection of that.”

McInnes told Kilmarnock’s YouTube channel: ” We were poor first half and lost the first goal after six minutes. You want to be hard to beat and frustrate the crowd.

“To get any sort of result at Ibrox, you need a 90-plus minutes performance and it was 45 minutes – and 45 minutes wasn’t enough.”