James Tavernier takes ALL the Rangers credit as Philippe Clement tells his skipper 'that's the Tav I want to see'

James Tavernier may have missed out on being credited with Rangers’ winner in Perth but his boss believes the Ibrox skipper deserves all the plaudits.

It’s been a difficult campaign for the captain with his performances levels on the slide at a time when anger is rising around Govan. But fair play, he didn’t let his team down after being drafted back into Philippe Clement’s line-up on Sunday. Now 33, it’s only reasonable to expect his legs might not quite be as sharp as they once were.

Having been rested in draw with Dundee United and Thursday’s Europa League hammering of Nice, the break clearly did him a power of good as Tavernier returned against St Johnstone and put on a rejuvenated show. Solid defensively, he was back to being an attacking outlet too as he put former Ibrox team-mate Jason Holt under pressure at the back post. That forced the Saints midfielder to bundle into his own net from Ianis Hagi’s hooked cross, with the goal sealing an away day win at McDiarmid.

Clement may have got it wrong suggesting the goal belonged to his captain but he was right to heap praise on the defender. The Belgian boss said: “Yeah, he can get all the credit today, for sure.

"And that's the Tav I want to see, who's decisive on the ball, but he's also decisive in the defensive actions. Scoring the goal is something extra, of course, but you see already if your right full-back is scoring on the goalline, that says also something about the intentions of our team today and how to play.

“So yeah, that's what I want to see the rest of the season. And maybe people from outside, they see at a player's age and they write people really fast off. He showed today that he's still a very important player for this season and that he can make the