Did Cyriel Dessers FINALLY kick-start his Rangers career, amid by far his shining moment as an Ibrox player?

Ibrox Noise regulars will be well aware that while we crudely lumped Dessers in with Lammers and Danilo as a waste of £15M, we also did regularly and consistently defend him against the tidal wave of hate from fans at large, pointing out his stats were actually quite good and he had given more than supporters were willing to credit him with.

And last night, having given two massive assists v PSV earlier this season which were roundly ignored, Dessers contributed a gigantic goal and even bigger assist on a cracking all-round evening for the striker which has bought him a tsunami of goodwill and we hope, a bit of slack.

For the first time since joining, Dessers finally feels the love from fans.

He only managed the one shot, but it was a massive one, and his assist was one of only two key passes on the night, but again, it made the difference.

Cyriel, as we’ve said before, is not an elegant smooth silky striker who composes himself wonderfully and slots them away, even if last night’s skill would have made Laudrup proud.

Indeed, it’s been pointed out every one of his goals has been a deflection, not a single clean strike in there but always ricocheting into the net, and last night was the same, as his low drive bumped off the keeper and sneaked into the onion bag.

But what Ibrox Noise has been at pains to point out is his work rate, his endeavour, and his team contribution, plus those actually pretty impressive 12 goals and assists in 25 matches.

Had we signed him with those numbers not a fan would have been unhappy with them.

Like him or not, Dessers has been, ultimately, not a flop signing – he’s not banging them in every other game, and never will be like that, but he’s giving in so many ways otherwise.

And last night, finally, the Nigeria international started to feel the love rather than derision as his impact paid off and he was effectively the match winner.

Maybe, just maybe it’ll work out for Cyriel after all.