The Nigeria international has praised the Englishman for his Gers landmark against the Dark Blues
Leon Balogun has expressed his delight at seeing James Tavernier earn his 300th Rangers cap in Saturday’s 1-0 victory Dundee FC.
Having been named in Steven Gerrard’s starting XI against the Dark Blues, the 29-year-old reached a triple century of appearances for the Gers.
To mark this milestone, the 55-time Scottish Premiership kings secured an away victory inside the Kilmac Stadium at Dens Park courtesy of Joe Aribo’s first-half effort.
Tavernier moved to Scotland in 2015 following the end of his contract with Wigan Athletic. He played a key role as Gerrard’s men won last season’s league title – which earned him the PFA Scotland Players’ Player of the Year prize.
In a post on social media, the Super Eagle applauded the right-back for his feat, while revelling in Rangers’ ‘hard fought’ three points and ‘clean sheet’ against James McPake’s men.
“Hard fought three points and a clean sheet on our skippo’s 300th appearance for Rangers FC – Congrats, what an achievement James Tavernier. To all the travelling supporters: get home safe, you’ve been amazing from start to finish,” Balogun wrote on Instagram.
A minute before the hour mark, the hosts were awarded a penalty by referee Bobby Madden as Paul McMullan squirmed away from Connor Goldson to go in on Jon McLaughlin, with the goalkeeper bringing him down inside the area.
Jason Cummings took the resultant kick but it was saved by goalkeeper McLaughlin to deny the former Rangers striker.
Balogun as well as Aribo played from start to finish against the newly promoted Scottish elite division side.
Zambia international Fashion Sakala was introduced in the 46th minute for Colombian forward Alfredo Morelos but Nigeria’s Nnamdi Ofoborh was not involved due to injury worries.
Thanks to this result, Rangers remain at the summit of the league with 16 points from seven matches, while Dundee occupy the 12th position with three points from the same number of matches.
Gerrard and his team will now shift their attention to Thursday’s Europa League match against Sparta Prague at the Generali Ceska pojisťovna Arena.
Rangers made a stuttering start to the 2021-22 tournament – losing 2-0 to Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyon at the Ibrox Stadium with Karl Toko Ekambi and Tavernier’s own goal settling the fixture.
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