THE man on the street rarely gets one over on the bookies but sometimes he can get a bit of a head start. Betting has become such a 24/7 global phenomenon – you could have a punt on an Iraqi women’s under-17 game if you were of a mind – that it pays for those taking the money to have their ears firmly to the ground. Sometimes, though, a little local knowledge can prove very useful to the customer and rather expensive to the bookmakers.

So it was in the case of James Tavernier. Rangers fans, and others, quickly cottoned on to the fact that the 23 year-old was a full-back in name only. Here was a defender more likely to appear in the opposition penalty box than his own, who was not shy in shooting, and also took free kicks from dangerous positions. For those who liked to bet on the first goalscorer in a match, or even on a player to score at any time during the 90 minutes, Tavernier soon became a popular wager. That most bookies were still pricing him up at generous odds – as they would for your average defender – made these bets even more appealing. League sponsors Ladbrokes thought enough of the Englishman’s early performances to name him the Championship’s player of the month for August but only after he had helped clued-up punters take a fair few quid from them first.

“There have been a few fans come up to me to say I’d won them some money and I see the odd betting slips on my Twitter timeline that guys have sent me,” revealed the player. “They’re trying to put a bit of pressure on me but it’s obviously something to be glad about. It’s enjoyable to see that. I do feel bad for them when I don’t score and they’re losing some money. I could send them some money but that might be a lot of people! People have been telling me that the odds on me have been rotten lately [so the bookies must have cottoned on].”

So attack-minded have Mark Warburton’s side been at the start of the season it is still impossible to gauge how good a defender Tavernier actually is. With 10 successive victories to their name, most of them by sizeable margins, few could argue that it has not been a successful strategy, but the player is not afraid of getting his hands dirty by doing his bit at the back too.

“I love defending as well,” he said. “When I’ve had to defend, I’ve defended, but with the way we are playing, we’re very dominant on the ball.

“My aim is to get the winger to defend more than me rather than the other way. It’s only going to test me more, which I want. We are trying not to let the opposition have any time. Even if they win it back, we try to get it back in the first five seconds or force them to go long and give it back to us. If we all defend as a team, we really don’t have to defend as individuals.”

Tavernier is not the only Rangers defender chipping in with goals. On the opposite flank captain Lee Wallace has also been making a sizeable contribution, the pair moving on to double figures via Wallace’s strike against Livingston last weekend.

“It showed at the weekend where the right side was a threat with me and Nathan Oduwa,” added Tavernier. “But it just proves that if it goes on the left side Waldo can attack as well.

“So we’re a very strong attacking side and at the back we’ve got a great spine. It’s always a threat for any opposition that we’ve got really attacking full backs. Waldo jokes he is coming to catch me [in terms of individual goal tallies] and it’s great competition because we want to score as many goals throughout the whole team. We don’t want to just rely on the strikers - we want the midfielders and wide men to score too. If Waldo and I can weigh in to help the team then it’s a great added bonus.”

Tavernier did not dismiss the idea of Rangers winning every league game this season but revealed it was not in the forefront of their minds.

“It’s obviously something to look at but we’re just focussing on the short term. We’re looking at blocks of games and we’re wanting to set goals out and win as many games as we can.”