Inauspicious Cyriel Dessers is no Rangers mug as knackered rivals rave about a man immune to folding – inside Hampden

There were only a couple of minutes on the clock on Saturday when Cyriel Dessers’ opening involvement against Ross County saw him almost ‘trap’ the ball straight off the massive Hampden pitch.

Some players would have let their game spiral out of control from such an inauspicious start. But as we’ve come to learn with Dessers, it’s his ability to shrug off the stumbles, the set-backs and the sitters and come back for more that is precisely why he’s been transformed from Ibrox whipping boy to Philippe Clement’s main man.

We’re talking about a player who repeatedly suffered the indignity of being jeered off by the scunnered Rangers support in the troubled early days of his Gers career. How many players have we seen crumble in the face of such merciless stick down the years? But not Dessers with his steely resolve. He was the poster boy for Michael Beale’s failed summer recruitment drive this time last year. Now 12 months and 27 goals on, he appears to be the Ibrox faithful’s leading source of hope as they prepare to cross Glasgow for next Sunday’s opening Old Firm joust.

Of course the punters have learned to take the rough with the smooth with the striker. For every smart finish - like the two he produced on Saturday against Ross County as he made it five goals in six appearances already this season - there will be a heavy touch, a wild pass or an inexplicable miss. There’s every chance Dessers could produce one of those jaw-dropping moments of cack-handed clumsiness next week at Celtic Park.

That’s just his nature as a player. But Rangers can certainly rely on him shaking off those mistakes and going again. And rely on him they most certainly will have to. Amid a summer of gloom, the Nigerian’s goals have provided the few