Like most aspects of the Rangers performance on Sunday, the first start of Hamza Igamane’s Ibrox career failed to really live up to expectations.
In fairness to the striker though, he didn’t really have much of an opportunity to fully showcase the power and explosive pace that had come through in glimpses in his cameos from the bench prior to the game against Hibs, with both the quality and the quantity of the service to the Moroccan and then Cyriel Dessers severely lacking.
The 21-year-old certainly tried to get involved, and within the Rangers camp, there is still plenty of faith that the young forward can be a valuable asset to Philippe Clement’s squad this season, particularly with the demands of balancing domestic and European football.
In training, he has certainly impressed his teammates, and midfielder Kieran Dowell has seen enough to convince him that Igamane has a bright future at the club.
“I’ve been really impressed with him,” Dowell said.
“Really impressed. He's obviously only a young lad, and he didn't get off to the best start with an injury first. But he's getting his rhythm now and he's very impressive in training.
“He's got a lot of power, a lot of pace, and I think he'll be a good signing for us.
“He's a young lad, but he's a confident boy. So, I think he'll take his chances when he gets them.”
One huge positive for Rangers over the matches since the defeat at Celtic Park has been the improvement at the other end of the pitch, with the shutout against Hibs their fourth clean sheet in succession.
Yes, they may have ridden their luck at times on Sunday, with Jack Butland saving Mykola Kukharevych’s penalty and Dwight Gayle missing a sitter late on, but there was a marked improvement in the solidity at the back over the games against Dundee United, Dundee and Malmo in particular.
Much of that, according to Dowell, has been down to the form of John Souttar, who despite conceding the penalty – in rather unfortunate circumstances - that Butland saved at the weekend, has looked much more like his old self of late at the heart of the Rangers defence alongside Robin Propper.
“John's been brilliant all season, I think, and last season as well,” he said.
“He's been a rock at the back for us.
“I thought in midweek he was outstanding as well, heading everything. You saw the same again on Sunday. He comes in and deals with it, all the long throws Hibs had. Both him and Robin got their heads on them all.
“The whole back four, with Jack too saving the penalty, they were solid.”
The win over Hibs may not have been the prettiest or most convincing then, but Dowell believes there were justifiable mitigating factors, with the energy that many of the Rangers players poured into the hugely impressive showing and result against Malmo taking its toll, particularly with the early kick-off time on Sunday.
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Such demands being made of the players though will be the norm for the foreseeable future though, and the midfielder is sure that they will soon adapt, and be able to bring their best to both their midweek and weekend assignments.
Malmo set the standard, in his book, and it is up to the Rangers players to strive to meet that bar in every game they play.
“Definitely, yeah,” he said.
“I thought it was a brilliant performance from the lads away from home in midweek. That was probably our best performance of the season so far.
“It's building that consistency, but at the same time getting those results. And we've got a few lads who are going to have to play a lot of 90 minutes throughout the week.
“Obviously after a tough week, going to Europe, going to Malmo in the week, it was one of those you have to grind out in the end.
“There was a lot of tired legs. Credit to a lot of the lads, they had to put in a shift this week. Like I said, it was all grinding out results when we did that in the end.”
That tiredness and lethargy brought some frustration from the Ibrox stands at times, particularly in the second half, and some frustration from the players too with their own performances.
Vaclav Cerny perhaps didn’t channel that in the most constructive manner, biting back at the crowd after they had groaned at a negative pass, but Dowell reckons it would likely have come from annoyance with himself that he couldn’t influence the game more in a positive sense.
“I don't know, I don't know,” he said.
“I think maybe in the moment, he's probably had a long week himself. He might have felt a bit leggy and thought, I can't do that one.
“But we all know coming to this club that the demand is to play forward and try and score goals and attack. I think that the manager is of the same mindset as that.
“So, I'm not sure [what happened with Vaclav], maybe it was just a moment in the game, but we're all on the same page that we want to go forward whenever possible.”
