Lincoln Red Imps defender Kian Ronan insists lightning can strike twice as the Gibraltarian minnows prepare to face Rangers.
Former Ipswich Town trainee Ronan was not at the club in 2016 when a Lee Casciaro strike secured a memorable Champions League qualifying victory on Brendan Rodgers dugout debut for the Bhoys.
However, the Gibraltar international admits that result will be on the players’ minds when Steven Gerrard’s side visit the British Overseas Territory for Thursday’s Europa League second qualifying round clash.
Ronan said: “Everyone was buzzing when the draw was made and we discovered we got Rangers, such a big team.
“Obviously the boys managed to beat Celtic back in 2016 and the feeling is that if they’ve done it once we can do it again.
“There’s a lot of interest in Gibraltar and even though there won’t be any fans there we know we’ll have everyones’ backing.”
Lincoln are short of match fitness with their domestic season not yet up and running.
Their only two matches since March were their opening Europa League wins over FC Prishtina and Titus Petange.
However, Ronan was one of eight Lincoln players who featured in Gibraltar’s 1-0 Nations League win over San Marino on September 5 and he is confident the team will not be ring rusty against the Ibrox outfit.
He added: “Even though Rangers have been back for a while we have been in pre-season for ten weeks.
“We’ve had the two European games and a lot of us played against San Marino as well.
“Theres about seven or eight us that train full-time with the team so that shows that football in Gibraltar is progressing.”
Ronan admits Thursday will not be the first time he has crossed paths with former England and Liverpool midfielder Gerrard.
He addd: “Everyone obviously has respect for what Steven Gerrard has done in his career, I came across him once when he was coaching Liverpool Under-18s and I was at Ipswich.”
