Europa League win will give hope to Rangers fans – Philippe Clement

Philippe Clement hopes Rangers’ stunning Europa League win over Nice on Thursday night offers fans belief.

The Belgian boss’s future has been under constant scrutiny, especially from disgruntled Gers supporters, after falling into third place in the William Hill Premiership, nine points behind Aberdeen and 11 behind Old Firm rivals Celtic.

However, the Light Blues have been a different animal in Europe this season with the terrific 4-1 win in France – thanks to a Hamza Igamane double and goals from Vaclav Cerny and Mohamed Diomande – moving them into eighth place in the Europa League table with 10 points from five games and on course to make the knockout stages.

Ahead of the William Hill Premiership game against St Johnstone in Perth on Sunday, Clement told RangersTV: “The team is starting to gel together, they start to understand everything better and better.

“For some players two months together, some three months together, some four months together, it’s still a short time so it’s good already to have this level in Europe. Having 10 points, it’s a very bright start and this will give a lot of hope to all our fans, also about the future of the club and the future of this squad.”

Diomande, who stretched to reach a Dujon Sterling pass and make it 2-0 in the 38th minute, is hoping Rangers start to get on the goal trail at home.

The Ivory Coast international said: “I think that is one thing we should improve on, scoring a lot of goals.

“At the weekend (1-1 against Dundee United) we didn’t do that but we were able to show that on Thursday and I think that is something that we should keep up, to score more goals, to take more chances.

“I have made some similar runs to try to get the ball and try to make the runs to make space for my team-mates.

“I am just happy that I was able to get this ball from Dujon and got the goal, I am happy that I continued to make the run and it got the result that I wanted.

“I have always tried to be available for my team to show that I want the ball and I want to be on the ball more.

“I want to make the difference; I want to be in the right position to set up my team-mates to create chances and to score goals, that is one thing that I want to be doing.”