Davis praise for Jelavic

15 January 2012 14:46

Stand-in skipper Steven Davis believes Nikica Jelavic showed once again why Rangers must hold onto him beyond January after he grabbed a double in Saturday's 2-1 win over St Johnstone in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

The Croatian striker has been the subject of intense speculation over his future and has been linked with a number of Barclays Premier League clubs.

Manager Ally McCoist confirmed on Friday that Rangers have yet to receive any enquiries or bids this month for Jelavic before he returned to top form with a brace at McDiarmid Park, and Davis said: "The good thing about Jela is that he can score a mixture of goals and he got two poacher's goals in this game."

He added: "There's been a lot written in terms of what he wants to do but he showed he's got a desire to still do well for Rangers so hopefully the club can keep hold of him.

"There has been a lot written in the press saying he wants to move on but he always works hard for the team and it was good to see him get his rewards again for the effort he puts in."

The win allowed Rangers to return to the SPL summit briefly, before Celtic reclaimed top spot with victory over Dundee United later in the day.

Davis said: "We've always had the desire to try to win games and we have managed to do it over the last few seasons.

"A couple of times we came up short in the five or six weeks before Christmas and it was important to bounce back after the Celtic game and try to go on another run of results.

"We have managed to do that so far but we won't be getting carried away as there is still a lot of hard work ahead. Celtic are still going well as well."

Jelavic's opener was cancelled out by an own-goal from Carlos Bocanegra before the striker pounced again to claim the winner late on.

Source: PA