PHILIPPE CLEMENT praised his players after they came through a 'hard battle' to claim three important Scottish Premiership points with a 2-1 win over St Mirren at the SMISA Stadium this afternoon.
The Rangers manager was pleased with the desire and determination his team showed to get the victory, with Cyriel Dessers scoring the winning goal with a well-taken header in the 74th minute.
He said: "It was a hard battle and we knew this. St Mirren have nothing to lose anymore so they go full in the fight and they won a lot of duels. It's also not the biggest pitch so you have a lot of duels.
"It's massive to take the three points, it's very important, and we showed the right mentality until the end with the whole squad and also players coming in and giving the right energy to the team.
“So, it's very important to take the three points and it shows the resilience and the mentality of the team and how much hunger they have.
"It was not only being patient today, it was being decisive and to push the margins to your side. In that way, I thought we did better in the second half than in the first half by being decisive and being dangerous up front.
"Maybe we could have scored the third goal but Gogic made an incredible save on the line also. It could have been more comfortable at the end but it's not the case and at the end it's not important anymore. It's about getting these three points."
Jack Butland had an impressive afternoon, making several important stops including a moment of magic before half-time when he flicked the ball over the bar with his fingertips after James Bolton's volley looked to be going with the game level at 1-1.
Clement said: "We know the quality of Jack and if you want to have a team that wins prizes you need a good goalkeeper - it's impossible without. You don't see any team in the world winning prizes without a good goalkeeper and we have one."
Dessers went on to score the all-important winning goal from a wonderful James Tavernier cross.
"Cyriel keeps digging in and keeps fighting for the team," Clement added. "He works really hard and then the moments come, that's what we tell him all the time and that's what he's proving now in these last couple of months when he is scoring a lot of goals and when he becomes more and more important for the club."
"But it's difficult to point out one, two, three players - everybody digged in deep and every week it will be someone else who gets the praise of being decisive. But, of course, the quality of Tav is important in that way and he has shown that a lot already this season."