ANDY HALLIDAY has backed penalty king Martyn Waghorn to break the 25 goal barrier this season after he bagged a hat-trick in the 4-0 win over Morton.

The striker took his tally for the season to 14 with three well taken strikes as Rangers moved nine points clear at the top of the Championship standings.

Waghorn’s first of the afternoon came from the penalty spot as he made it seven out of seven from twelve yards this term before a neat finish and late strike completed another profitable afternoon in front of goal.

And midfielder Halliday is delighted to see the former Wigan man firing in the final third – even if it means he is missing out on chances to add to his personally tally.

He said: “He’s been different class. He took his goals well today and he scored another penalty. We have been winding him up about the penalties.

“The sad thing is I’m second on the penalties and I’m choking for him to come off and let me have a shot. If he’s not on the park I take them but he is playing 90 minutes most weeks so I probably won’t get a shot.

“We practised penalties in training and it was between the two of us and he got the nod. But that’s seven from seven penalties now and he’s different class and he deserved his match ball today.

“I’m happy to let him do it when he’s got a conversion rate like that. He practises them every day and he reaps the benefits.

“I thought his second goal was excellent and it was very similar to one he scored against Livingston recently.

“It’s really important you have a striker than can score 25 goals a season and he looks like he’s on the way to hit that target.”

After suffering their first defeat of the campaign against St Johnstone on Tuesday night, Rangers got back to winning ways with a deserved triumph at Cappielow.

And Halliday was delighted to see Warburton’s side silence the critics as they put on a much improved showing to clinch the points.

He said: “It was a great performance from the lads today. It was important we bounced back after Tuesday night.

“It was good to have a game so quickly after such a disappointing result.

“We started with a high intensity and that has been lacking the last two or three games. But I thought we were excellent especially in the opening 25 minutes.

“We had something to prove – we wanted to prove something to ourselves.

!We wanted to prove we can maintain a consistent level every game. That’s the demands at this football club.

"Morton had a plan to slow us down and frustrate us but we didn’t let them.”