Ryan Naderi scored his ninth goal of the season from the penalty spot as Rangers secured a 2-0 victory over St Mirren in Paisley, with manager Derek McInnes praising the Czech international's growing confidence and personality.
The 23-year-old striker, who joined Rangers in January from Hansa Rostock for £5 million, now has 14 goal involvements in 18 matches this season. Naderi opened the scoring against St Mirren after James Penrice was tripped in the box, before Dan Neil sealed the win with a deflected second-half strike.
McInnes praises striker's development
McInnes said Naderi has become a different character to the player who struggled at the start of the campaign. The frontman has gained confidence under McInnes and earned his first Czech Republic call-up.
McInnes hailed Naderi's work ethic and belief, saying he is now showing his personality as a Rangers centre-forward should. He said: "He's so willing. His first port of call is to make sure he's a handful to play against and he was that tonight."
"He ran the gaps and made sure their centre-backs knew he was there, which is very important. He needs to build that reputation for being horrible to play against."
"But equally at a club like Rangers, you're going to get judged on goals. If you're going to lead the line for us, then getting goals is so important and thankfully with his stats he's really contributing."
Penalty duty in Shankland's absence
With regular penalty taker Lawrence Shankland out injured, McInnes revealed that Naderi has taken upon himself extra practice spot kicks in the captain's absence. The Rangers manager had no doubt when his striker stepped up in Paisley to slot it past Saints keeper Jacob Chapman.
McInnes said: "We've inherited a squad where James Tavernier took everything. Free kicks, throw-ins, corners, penalties. Last year, Connor Barron and Thelo Aasgaard took them as well. We don't have them either. So we don't really have a set-piece taker and a penalty taker."
"It was up for debate and with Lawrence out we had to work towards it. Ryan has been practising penalties more or less every day. He just looks more and more confident taking that type of penalty."
"Good on him for that because every team needs to have that confidence. I need to know that whoever's taking the penalty, standing over it, I think he's going to score."
Rangers close gap at top
McInnes' side moved to within a point of Celtic at the top of the Premiership table, with the Hoops playing against Kilmarnock on Sunday. His team were comfortable winners against Craig McLeish's men and never looked in any real danger.
After dropping points in their last two away games at Dundee and Hearts, McInnes was pleased to get back to winning ways on the road. He said: "This is a hard place to come for any team and we didn't expect it to be anything other than that."
"But I thought we dealt with the game really well. We were really competitive from the get-go. I thought we were tenacious, aggressive and we moved the ball right."
McInnes was also happy with another clean sheet and picked out Emmanuel Fernandez, who played through the pain barrier to produce a faultless display at the back. He said: "He gets a rough ride at times and he's a big lad so when he's not at his best it's pretty visible."
"But he's been struggling with his ankle. Even in the warm-up tonight, he was feeling it. We had a discussion in the dressing room before the game. He looked as if he might not be able to play but we agreed that he would try it."
"Thankfully, his performance was really good and dominant. I think him and Makka (Olwethu Makhanya) have forged a good relationship. Getting a clean sheet at night was another step in that progression."
"We want more clean sheets, we want more goals and we want more wins in the next chunk of 11 games. So it was important we got off to a good start tonight."
