Rangers dressing room comes out swinging for Clement as hero raises key point about 'teams like Motherwell'

Delighted Nedim Bajrami slid on his knees to celebrate his Hampden winner.

His goal might just have lifted Philippe Clement and his team off theirs at their most desperate time of need. The Albanian’s strike to see off a Motherwell side that had looked set to strike down Rangers at half time was undoubtedly the biggest goal of Bejrami’s short career in Scotland.

But for Clement the 81st minute winner was of far greater significance. Under growing pressure having fallen nine points behind Celtic and Aberdeen in the league and with his team struggling to show any sort of promise they’re going to get any better, the Belgian had walked down the tunnel at half time surely knowing the deafening boos from his support meant he had 45 minutes to save his job. Cyriel Dessers eased the pressure with a 49th minute leveller. But it was Bajrami’s strike nine minutes from time - when he strode onto Vaclav Cerny’s pinpoint pass before rattling an angle drive past Aston Oxborough - which saw Clement breathe a massive sigh of relief.

And the match winner insisted he was delighted to do his bit for the under-fire boss who now is just 90 minutes away from defending the trophy he won just two months after stepping in the door at Ibrox last year. Bajrami said: “We are always behind the manager, we fight for him, we fight for every game, for us, for our fans and we try to do every game, step by step, our best.

“When teams like this (Motherwell) score you have to be strong and don't lose the second goal and we showed second half, our quality. In front and even our defence was quality because they didn’t get the second goal and we won the game. This was important for us. I'm always happy to score and to help the team, not only for myself, but