ANTONIO COLAK savoured his first Rangers goal against Kilmarnock and insists he will relish the fight with Alfredo Morelos at Ibrox this term.
The Croatian fired blanks in the Premiership win over Livingston and Champions League defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise as he found chances hard to come by in his first two outings of the season.
But it was to prove third time lucky as he produced an accomplished finish to set Rangers on their way to a comfortable win at Ibrox on Saturday and make it two from two in the Premiership.
Colak has been largely starved of service following his move from PAOK this summer and came in for criticism from Light Blue legend Mark Hateley following the loss in Belgium.
Now he is determined to hit the goal trail for Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side after getting off and running with a fine strike early in the second half.
Colak said: "I'm really happy, it was an amazing feeling to score here at Ibrox, my first competitive goal.
"It's not always easy but it is the most important thing for a striker to start early as possible in the season to score. This gives me a lot of confidence and extra push for the upcoming games.
"It's always giving me goosebumps to score here at Ibrox especially in front of our fans. I just want to have this feeling as often as possible.
"It gives me a lot of energy, a lot of confidence. I just try to take advantage of every situation, every chance I can get. I just want to be as successful as possible.
"I'm a striker. I have always scored. It's not like you forget in one game. It's all about hard work, about patience, about confidence.
"Of course, we didn't have a good game on Tuesday but we know what we can do in front of our fans. We can turn this game around and it's all on us.
"We have this confidence but we just have to be 100 per cent ready and focused. I think with our crowd we can turn this result into a positive one."
The goal for Colak was one of the main positives for Van Bronckhorst to take on a day that saw Rangers produce their best performance of the campaign so far after a difficult first week of the season.
Seeing Morelos step off the bench and mark his return to action with a poacher's finish was another highlight for the Dutchman as attentions turn to the return leg against USG.
Morelos was given a standing ovation when he replaced Colak in the second half and the home crowd were clearly thrilled to see the Colombian back in action after five months out.
Colak now faces a significant fight to retain his starting spot on Tuesday night and in the coming weeks and months but the forward is confident he can make his mark at Ibrox.
Colak said: "I'm really happy for him, to come back after this injury, to score is so important for us and the team in general.
"First of all, to be successful is to have strikers who score. We know how important this can be for the future.
"We have a long season, a lot of games. We need everybody.
"The most important thing is to have a successful team and I'm happy for him to score and I think he is happy for me to score.
"We want, of course, to score as many goals as we can. To keep the level as high as possible but it is all about the team."
