Three goals in three for Rangers loanee Jake Hastie
Jake Hastie would have set his sights on emulating Greg Docherty when he left Rangers to head to League One for the season back in the summer.
Docherty proved a real point during his time with Shrewsbury Town last year. He is still looking to force his way into Steven Gerrard’s side at Ibrox, but his successful loan has surely confirmed that his long-term future lies at Rangers.
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Hastie endured a turbulent summer. He joined Rangers at the end of his contract at Motherwell. And the 20-year-old initially got the chance to impress Gerrard as he featured in a Europa League qualifier in July and a League Cup game exactly one month later.
But with Gerrard clearly deciding that Hastie was likely to struggle for game-time this year, he gave a loan move to Rotherham United the green light.
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And the youngster has made an outstanding start to life with the Millers. His equaliser away at Sunderland on Tuesday night was his third goal in as many games for the club.
Hastie could have surely not imagined that he would make such a brilliant start with Paul Warne’s men. It is exactly the kind of run of form that will silence a lot of his doubters, who feared that Rangers may have made a rash decision signing him in the summer off the back of one fantastic spell of form.
There is a long way to go in the season, and Hastie cannot afford to let his standards drop. Rangers have so much quality out wide this season, and the youngster is still going to face a tough task when he returns, no matter how well he does this year.
But Docherty arguably made Gerrard’s mind up for him with his form for Shrewsbury. Hastie must target forcing the manager’s hand in a similar manner. He has made a brilliant start.
