It’s quite late in the day, but Ibrox Noise would like to offer some ratings belatedly for the tough-fought win over well-organised Ayr United who proved exactly the obstacle we suggested they’d be, to the chagrin of some fans who easily expected a 6-0 scoreline.

Here are our numbers for the day:

Butland:

A couple of kicks, a few claims, but mostly Butland was a spectator here and can’t be rated much. 6

Tavernier:

Caught napping more than once, and didn’t offer anything useful at the other end. This did look like Tavernier painting by numbers. Inconspicuous. 5

Goldson:

Diabolical miscontrol in the first half bailed out wonderfully by Souttar showed just how complacent Goldson can be, but he made up for it with a swooping slide tackle in the same half as well. Wasn’t really under pressure aside that early mistake. 6

Souttar:

Bailed out Goldson with some outstanding, measured defending, and as most usual did the usual grunt work Goldson’s partner always has to. He can be happy with his evening. 7

Barisic:

Scored one with a deflection, nearly scored a second, and was responsible for a few good balls into the box. But mostly failed to impress on the match and his lack of physical prowess showed on a few occasions too. 6

Raskin:

Another completely anonymous performance by Raskin who has been missing since last May. We honestly wonder how long before he’s just a squad player because he just isn’t interested any more. 4

Jack:

Bright – he’ll be used sparingly, but this was a reasonable shift from him. 6

Cortes:

Instant hero. By a mountain’s width Rangers’ best player on the day. His energy, dribbling, skill and all-round spunk were by far the most dangerous thing we had, and it’s pretty easy to see he’s instantly the best winger we have by a country mile. Assisted Barisic’s goal. 9

Diomande:

A neat and tidy performance, eager to impress, but not overly dominant, the Ivorian didn’t settle quite as fast as Cortes, but he’s barely played since November so he’ll take some matches to get up to speed. Similar gait and even style to Glen Kamara, but one who actually wants to play for us. 6

Wright:

Showing yet again how substandard he is, Wright offered so little, and actually played his sub’s display – he was anonymous till 70 minutes then as everyone tired he actually got some joy with all the energy he’d saved up. 5

Silva:

Got another goal, that’s two in three, and hey suddenly the boy is scoring. He struggled to impose himself, showing yet again he just isn’t the Daniel Cousin type, and Ayr mostly had his measure, until he found that space late on to make it 2-0. 6

Subs:

Cantwell:

Bright cameo, lovely turn to set up what eventually fell to Silva. 7

Lundstram:

Gave midfield the oomph it lacked in Raskin. 7

Matondo:

Nearly nabbed one late on with a decent run. 6

Yilmaz:

Will expect to be back in LB v County. 6

Manager:

Clement will have fully expected this performance and result – Ayr were big, stuffy, and eager to stop Rangers. Forget low block, this was vast block, and Rangers struggled to get past it. The starting XI shows Clement’s continued stubbornness like every Gers boss to precede him, sticking with certain continuing underperformers – Connor and Nico, we’re looking at you. But his work got the job done and his subs made the difference too. 7