PHILIPPE CLEMENT has praised Jack Butland for producing his best at the vital moment in the 1-0 win over Hibernian.
The Rangers No1 saved Mykola Kukharevych’s penalty late in the first-half to deny the Edinburgh side an equaliser following Tom Lawrence’s stunning opener.
The Ibrox gaffer believes the England international shot stopper showed why he has played at the top level but doesn’t feel the penalty - which saw John Souttar penalised for handball - should have been awarded.
Speaking to RangersTV, he said: “Jack’s save was a massive moment. I think Jack was happy as he has been less involved in the last few weeks - it’s a good feeling to be important in those moments.
“For me it wasn't clear why it was a penalty. We discussed these things before with the other managers and the referee department.
“The clean sheet is massive. We brought in Jefte who is new, Nana Kasanwirjo has come in and we have a new pairing at centre-backs with John and Robin Propper.
“It is not just defensively, we also have Connor Barron who is new in front of them. They haven’t played together too long, but with the organisation Jack hasn’t had to make many saves.
“But when he did he came up with a massive one and that is a top goalkeeper who keeps his concentration in the big moments.”
Just three days after the 2-0 win over Malmo in the Europa League, the Light Blues returned to a packed Ibrox.
Clement admits some of his players grew tired as the game wore on but praised match winner Lawrence for producing the goods with his third goal in six games.
He added: “The first half we played well and we deserved the lead, although we could have scored more.
“In the second half it was more difficult, you could see the freshness going out of the legs of several players.
“In other leagues when a team plays in Europe they look at the time of the fixtures, to help with recovery, but this is the shortest time you can have from a European away game.
“We didn't get back to the training centre until 2am on Friday and then we played at midday, so we had less freshness, so it was important to get the three points and another clean sheet.
“Tom has scored a lot of goals already and that is important for the No10. We lacked that at times last season and Tom is making good steps physically to play more games.
“He has been very important in the first few weeks of the season. He has the ability to do it with his left or right and from long and short distances.
“You could see it was a well controlled finish which I like to see.”