Philippe Clement has say on winning back Rangers fans, three new injury concerns and Rabbi Matondo speculation

The Ibrox manager watched his team open the scoring early against the beleaguered visitors and then struggle to secure the commanding lead their dominance probably deserved.

But goals during seven minutes of added time from substitutes Leon Balogun and Cyriel Dessers meant the scoreline more accurately reflected the balance of play. Rangers are now 13 points behind leaders Celtic but 12 ahead of Aberdeen, who are now in fourth.

“It is about us on the pitch showing the right things and then the fans get behind us,” said Clement. “I saw a lot of people happy going home after the game with a really good feeling, because the team did what our ambition is. Our ambition is to do it much more.”

But there was concern amid the relief for Clement as Rangers made it successive wins for the first time since early December. Danilo, who has already suffered a serious knee injury at Rangers, did not reappear after half time. Robin Propper, meanwhile, was replaced by goalscorer Balogun after 77 minutes after blocking a shot from James McGarry. Danilo appeared to have hurt his shoulder.

"I cannot say anything about that,” said Clement, when asked about the health status of both players amid continued injury problems at the club. “I hear that people are worried about Dani, about his old injury. It's nothing to do with that, not even around that, but we will see in the next couple of days.

“I cannot say anything about it. Maybe it's something that's not too bad, maybe it's for a longer term. We will see in the next couple of days.”

On the flip side of this, Clement saw skipper James Tavernier and Balogun make their comebacks after injury. “It's a crucial one and you saw also they came in with the right energy, the right focus,” he said. “It's crucial because we have so many games, we need a good rotation in the squad to have the ambition to win every time. And we were really at the edge in our defensive line.”

After hosting Fraserburgh in the Scottish Cup this weekend, Rangers face away games against Manchester United in the Europa League and then Dundee United. Clement shone some light on why Rabbi Matondo was omitted from the squad amid speculation linking him with a move away. Oscar Cortes was also not included in the matchday squad.

“No, I cannot give any update about loans or not, or players going or not, until something is concrete and it's not the case for the moment,” he said.

“I can say about Rabbi that I made a choice, a sporting choice today to put two young lads (Bailey Rice and Zakariya Lovelace) on the bench because I think they are performing for the moment better. And normally Oscar would also be on the bench today, but he had a small problem yesterday evening, after (feeling) something in training. So we need to assess what that is for the next couple of days.”

Clement gave special mention to Dessers, who came off the bench late on and scored his 13th goal of the season. He too has been linked with a move away after losing his place to Hamza Igamane, who scored Rangers' opener.

The Rangers manager celebrated the last two goals with extra relish on the touchline. “You know in football you can dominate games and one chance or one ball drops badly for you and you can lose points,” he said. “We had already too many moments this season and for sure in away games where we were dominant, where we were creating the chances and then there was one ball in our box and we give a goal away again. So of course it's important to score the second and third. I am also happy for Cyril coming in and scoring a goal like that. It shows the mentality of the squad that everybody's fighting and working hard together to be ready to get the results that we want.”