Returning Rangers star opens up on fight for starting spot amid 'cannot win title with 11 men' claim

The left-back’s last appearance at Ibrox came during a 2-1 defeat against Hibs on August 9, when he felt a discomfort in his groin in the closing stages of the game. A pain that ended up being worse than he had originally anticipated.

In his absence, Rangers moved to sign former Hearts defender James Penrice on a season-long loan from AEK Athens, who has played a key role in the club’s recent resurgence that has saw them win eight of their last nine games in all competitions. Impressed by his new teammates, the returning Rommens believes competition for places can only be beneficial to the club’s ambitions this season.

“It feels good [to be back], especially after such a long injury,” said Rommens. “In my last action against Hibs I felt something in my groin and it was bigger than I expected. I was back in the first week of the international break in September. So now I’ve have three weeks to get my fitness back and I feel ready now to play games.

“It's nice to be back on the pitch and to get a win. You want to play, and especially the big games you want to play more. But it is football, you have to deal with injuries. I’ve had a couple now and I'm a little bit unlucky with that. I was desperate to come back and be better than before. You see the team play every week and it's hard to not get involved and to not help the team. It was a pity.

“If a lot of players leave and a lot of players come in, you need to adapt. It's not easy for everybody and also for the players who were here, new players, players coming in. It's difficult but after a couple of games we'll get used to it. He [Penrice] did well. I think the whole team did well. I think it's good to have competition in a team like Rangers because with 11 players you cannot win a championship. We need more than 11 players and I think he did very good.”

Expected to be part of the squad that travels to the capital for a mammoth clash with Hearts on Wednesday, the 23-year-old believes the game offers Rangers the perfect opportunity to showcase the improvement they’ve made against a side that finished eight points above them and beat them twice at Tynecastle last season.

“I think Hearts, because of what they did last year, and also now that the gaffer is here with Shanks [Lawrence Shankland] and Cammy [Devlin], there’s a little bit more pressure on the game,” admitted Rommens. “But we'll be ready for it on Wednesday. We need to finish above them. There's no doubt about it.

“Our first couple of games was difficult but afterwards we're getting better and better and everybody understood what was expected of them. You can say it at the end of the season if there was a mentality change or not. We just need to keep going and not speak about last season. We just need to keep going and do our best.”

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