Olwethu Makhanya's Journey to the Old Firm Derby

Olwethu Makhanya will run out at Ibrox on Sunday with the noise of an Old Firm derby ringing in his ears – but in his head, it’s another voice that still drives him. His mum’s.

The Rangers defender admits he came close to walking away from the game as a teenager, only to be pushed back towards his dream by his parents at the moment he needed it most.

The South Africa international, who has slotted impressively into Derek McInnes’ back line since arriving from Philadelphia Union in the summer, spoke candidly about the crossroads he hit as a 16-year-old after leaving home for Johannesburg.

“I think my parents, especially my mum, played a really big role in me becoming a professional footballer,” he said. “I went away from home for the first time, tried, but things were not going well. I called my mum this one day. I told her, ‘I just want to come back, maybe focus on education because maybe football is not for me.’”

The answer from home was blunt, and it changed everything.

“The thing that she told me over the phone was that, ‘you left here telling me that you're going to go play football, so I want you to do that.’ I just had to keep on going until things came true for me.”

That resolve led him to Stellenbosch, where he eventually signed after his mother’s insistence that he stay the course. The same determination now underpins a Rangers defence that has conceded just one goal in a four-game league winning run heading into Sunday’s League Cup quarter-final against Celtic.

Makhanya has been at the heart of that miserly back line, and he sees the late midweek victory over St Mirren as proof of a growing steel within the squad.

“I think it does highlight the fact that maybe the group is strong mentally,” he said. “That shows a lot of mentality and character from the boys.

“It's going to be very important to stay together. I think it shows a lot of togetherness and it's something that we've been working on off the field.”

Now comes the real examination. The centre-half freely admits he has never experienced anything like the Old Firm.

“I think everyone understands what this fixture means to the club, to the fans and everyone,” he said. “I'm really excited and looking forward to it.

“I just know that it's going to be a very passionate game. I'm honestly expecting a really, really crazy game from the fans.

“We just have to try and do our job and deliver because we know the fans are going to be behind us. We're going to use them as an encouragement and also understand that we're also doing it for them. They're going to be very helpful for us.”

From a phone call home in Johannesburg to a League Cup quarter-final against Celtic, Makhanya has followed the path his mother demanded he stay on. Now he walks into one of world football’s most intense fixtures, with a defence in form and a support ready to erupt.