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Rangers manager Steven Gerrard singled out Ianis Hagi for major praise for his performance on Wednesday against St Johnstone.

The Gers maintained a 16-point gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership table with a routine 3-0 win away from home.

Kemar Roofe and Glen Kamara put the Ibrox outfit into a two-goal lead in the opening half an hour, before Hagi added his name to the scoresheet early in the second-half with a powered finish that spilled under the goalkeeper.

Hagi started his first league match since October in yesterday’s victory and took his goal well, but more importantly worked his socks off with great energy and looked a real threat operating from the right-winger position.

The 22-year-old attacker has plenty of competition to try nail down a permanent position in the side, but he’s now been directly involved in 12 goals in 23 appearances so far this season.

Gerrard praised the Romanian for his latest contribution and pointed out how hard he worked.

“I thought he showed cleverness and real quality in his play and it was a strong performance from him,” Gerrard said post-match, as quoted by the club’s official website.

“I thought he tired a little bit at the end so I am going to have to monitor that in the coming days as he got a little bit leggy in the final minutes.

“But, it is understandable – it was a tough night and he put a shift in so fair play to him.”

TBR’s View:

Hagi was substituted off late into the contest against St Johnstone after burning himself out, something that Gerrard mentioned post-match.

It won’t be a surprise if he’s dropped to the bench on Boxing Day for the home league fixture against Hibernian, but he’s definitely raised his hand to suggest he deserves more minutes and it goes to show the strength of depth in the current squad.

He’s chipped in with some crucial moments so far this campaign and has the quality to become an ever more important player if he finds some consistency.