John Souttar and Ben Davies will be Rangers’ defence going forward after Connor Goldson was ruled out for an indetermined period, meaning the formerly-always available vice-captain now enters the first real injury blight of his Rangers career and may now be a lot less available going forward, which gives Souttar and potentially new summer recruits an infinitely better chance of selection.

The vice-captain’s immunity to being dropped has been a bit of a running joke with Rangers fans, with most being amused by his untouchable status regardless of form, and Rangers having no contingency for his absence.

Except now we do. And as regulars to Ibrox Noise know we infinitely prefer the balance of the defence with Souttar and Davies – one more physical and rugged, the other composed and neat on the ball.

It’s a better blend than Goldson Davies which is effectively the same defender, as we’ve said a few times.

And with Goldson’s injuries starting to mount up a bit, Souttar has a serious chance to stake a claim in Rangers’ first team with, for now, absolutely no other rival to the jersey. John Souttar has missed a LOT of football the past 9 months, and while it was his own fault and he owned up to that, it doesn’t change the fact he’s got a lot of football in him.

As Ibrox Noise said, bad pass back aside last week, Souttar had a very good match, but unfortunately will mainly be remembered for that sole gaffe, even though the rest of his afternoon was rather good.

We’ve made the case for him to be first choice going forward anyway, and now the option is taken out of Michael Beale’s hands anyway and Souttar and Davies will be the defensive duo for the foreseeable.

No one should be untouchable, but Goldson was, and now he has to watch on for the second time this season. But this time, his replacement is arguably the better player unlike Leon King who was absolutely diabolical and out of his depth.

Goldson now has a fight on his hands to regain his place if Souttar keeps on impressing.