Aberdeen defender Jerel Ifil has labelled the Dons’ game against Rangers at Ibrox tomorrow as the biggest of his career to date.
Ifil will be one of the players desperate to make amends for the League Cup exit at Dundee when he faces Rangers for the first time.
The defender has generally impressed since his arrival from Swindon Town in August and insists the Dons can bounce back.
He said: “I have never seen Rangers because I don't watch a lot of football on television. By the time we get the kids to bed, it's too late.
“But this will be the biggest game I've been involved in because of the massive crowd at Ibrox. Until now, the biggest I've played in front of was 30,000 when Swindon played at Leeds.
“I'm excited at the prospect because games like this were one of the reasons why I moved to Scotland. It's something to relish and be motivated by the atmosphere. I'm told our record down there is poor but records are there to be broken.â€
Despite conceding three goals at Dens Park on Tuesday – the first goals the Dons have lost since half-time on the opening day of the season – the defence has improved since the debacle against Sigma Olomouc in the Europa League.
Much of that improvement is due to the commanding presence of Ifil and the Englishman knows his team will have to be far less charitable at Ibrox than they were on Tayside.
He said: “I hope I'm doing what the manager bought me for and I'm helping the team. It's satisfying to get three clean sheets. I feel I've done my job and made a contribution. Now we must build on this run because as long as the opposition don't score, you have a chance to win.
“When I joined Aberdeen, the team had already lost a lot of goals in Europe. My first game against Celtic was tough because it was so fast and their wide players had the licence to do whatever they wanted by going inside or outside.
“Still, I enjoyed it because you can always find positives even when you don't win a game and we have three more games with Celtic this season so I'll know what to expect next time. It's still early days but we can keep progressing if we keep it tight at the back.â€
Dons manager Mark McGhee was disappointed with the defensive display on Tuesday but believes Ifil can be at his most effective if he sticks to the basics and was impressed by the defender’s performance in the SPL win over St Mirren last Saturday.
McGhee said: “Early on we felt very strongly we would have done an awful lot better against Sigma had we someone here who could attack the ball. Jerel has come in and the way he played on Saturday was the way he played against Hull, which was the reason we signed him.
“He has the ability to be aggressive and be a go and win it centre half. He can be a great signing for us.â€
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