Craig Cairns takes a look at how Rangers striker Martyn Waghorn has scored his goals since arriving from Wigan Athletic in the summer.
Waghorn became the country’s top scorer with 25 goals after his Scottish Cup hat-trick against Cowdenbeath on Sunday, surpassing Peterhead’s Rory McAllister. That was his second treble of the season, his first coming away to Morton in September.
Waghorn scored his first six goals away from home and it wasn’t until his fourth appearance at Ibrox that he struck in front of his home support. He is as adept at scoring away as he is at home, netting 13 goals on the road and 12 at Ibrox.
He is also likely to go on scoring runs. Currently he is on a sequence of 10 goals in nine matches and between August and September he scored 11 goals in seven games.
Interestingly, Waghorn has scored the majority of his goals after half-time and has only claimed Rangers’ first goal on three occasions. He has scored 17 of his 25 goals in the second half, including 12 in the last 30 minutes of matches.
Mark Warburton likes to play a 4-1-2-3 with two strikers and one natural winger in the front three. Waghorn either spearheads the attack or else starts on the right but drifts inside.
Wherever he is positioned, Waghorn likes to drop deep and link with midfielders. From this position he is as capable at picking out a telling pass as he is at working himself into goalscoring positions. He has netted four goals from outside the area.
He can get on the end of crosses but can also score terrific solo goals. His first against Cowdenbeath and his goal versus Hibernian at Ibrox stand out in this regard.
Waghorn has scored 21 goals with his left foot, three with his right and one with his head and has grabbed nine of his goals from the penalty spot.
