Rangers

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Rangers legend Arthur Numan thinks Cyriel Dessers has the potential to be the match-winner in the Saturday's Scottish Cup final against Celtic.

Nigeria striker Dessers has looked unconvincing at times following his arrival last summer but has scored 22 goals in his debut season at Ibrox.

"I think it could be Dessers," Numan answered when asked who could be decisive in the Old Firm final. "He gets some criticism, but he is scoring goals.

"This is the match you can become a legend, everyone remembers the goal from Lovenkrands in the 2002 final [a 3-2 Rangers win]. That’s what people always remember – the goals, winning trophies. I hope Dessers will be the man."

Numan, who won four Scottish Cups during his time at Rangers, also gave his full backing to manager Philippe Clement despite Rangers' second-placed finish in the Premiership.

"When Clement took over he did a really good job," the Dutchman added. "He got the confidence back and you could see that the players started to believe they could win trophies.

"They won the League Cup, but the last few weeks the results have not been what the supporters want to see. He can change it again by winning this one game. It doesn’t matter how you play or how you get the result as long as you win."

Arthur Numan won four out of four Scottish Cup finals as a Rangers player and revelled in the "special" atmosphere of Hampden meetings with Celtic.

Jamie Currie
Fan writer

It was the same old story in the last league match for Rangers - they were poor in both boxes, missing sitters at one end and not winning important duels at the other.

It's a common thing with these players now; start poorly, come back into it then fall away.

It has been our season in a nutshell. We haven't been good enough and the players' fitness and injuries have been moaned about all season.

The end to this season has become a nightmare, so much so that the final whistle in the Scottish Cup final cannot come quickly enough. Unfortunately, Michael Beale's slapdash recruitment last summer killed Philippe Clement's chances.

On the manager, he cannot start with the 4-2-3-1 at Hampden. He has to be a bit more pragmatic and start with a midfield three of (if fit) Nico Raskin, Dujon Sterling and Mohamed Diomande.

Then I would suggest you find a space for Tood Cantwell in the front three. We have lost the midfield early in the past three games and if we are to have any chance of lifting the cup, we cannot set up in a way that gives the Celtic midfield control of the game again.

But overall, I am looking forward to seeing the back of this season. It's been poor at the start, good in the middle, then poor at the end.

Let's hope they can finish off with some silverware and give us hope going into the summer where the squad has to be gutted. I am glad Clement is not giving it "the squad isn't as broken as people think" like the last manager.

It will and should be the last hurrah in a Rangers shirt for some of the players. Hopefully it's a positive one.

Panama centre-half Jose Cordoba is set to join Rangers as their first summer arrival, with Levski Sofia to accept an initial payment of close to £2m. (Daily Record), external

Utrecht have confirmed they will enter into talks with Rangers to sign Sam Lammers on a permanent basis after the Dutch forward netted his ninth goal in 10 games. (Herald), external

Read the rest of Tuesday's Scottish gossip.

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Neil McCann discusses why Philippe Clement may be 'irked' by Rangers' performance at Tynecastle on BBC Sportscene.

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Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

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Rangers wrapped up their league campaign with a 3-3 draw at Tynecastle. Ross McCausland underlined his potential with a wonderful goal and staked his claim for a cup final start.

We asked for your thoughts after Rangers ended their Scottish Premiership season with a thrilling 3-3 draw at Tynecastle.

Here's a taste of what you had to say:

Dougie: Glad youth got on field today, they will be key in keeping costs down in a well overdue rebuild. For every goal James Tavernier scores, he costs us one at the back, effect net zero. He needs to stay in position, or move up. Meaningless game due to some in squad throwing it away a few weeks back. Need players with passion.

Gary: Reality check! We have progressed under Philippe Clement. We have a squad that needs revitalising. We have good talent coming through. I'm confident Clement will sign quality young talent that will play with his hunger and desire. We have seen what we can do under Clement, I'm excited for next season.

Del: I said in January that our centre-half and centre-forward will decide our fate. It did. Woefully short of the standard required to win a league. Need a miracle next week, simple as that.

Steven: The season all in one game; possession, opportunities, poor finishing & defensive woes. So much for the management team to correct in the close season, not to mention the minor miracle of conjuring up a Cup Final-winning team. Do that and a bonus is surely on the cards!

Tom: Clement will not find a winning formula until he removes Tavernier from defence, we need to play a solid defensive game next week a right back who goes out of position and jogs back slowly is a liability. This applies next season as well.

Steven: Dead rubber yesterday but again, our defending is so poor. Our full backs don’t know how to defend or stop crosses. Tavernier out of position all game and Ridvan Yilmaz sleeping for Hearts’ second. Our midfield was anonymous most of the game. Injuries haven’t helped for sure but big changes needed and a faster start to the season and in games

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• Rangers have scored in 35 of their 38 games, more often than any other team in the Scottish Premiership this season.

• Hearts have won 13 points from losing positions in the Scottish Premiership this season, only Motherwell (19) and Rangers (18) have recovered more.

• Cyriel Dessers has contributed to goals in his last three games in the Scottish Premiership (two goals, one assist).

• Frankie Kent assisted his fourth goal in the Scottish Premiership this season.

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Rangers could face competition from Red Bull Salzburg, Wolves and Al-Ahly in their bid to sign South Africa teenager Relebohile Mofokeng from Orlando Pirates. (Scottish Sun), external

Former Rangers and Scotland coach Tommy Wilson admits he’s had to returns to Scotland for his career after taking the high-profile technical director’s role at MLS side Charlotte FC. (Sunday Mail), external

Read the rest of today's Scottish gossip here.

Hearts scored with the final kick of their Scottish Premiership season to snatch a draw and end their five-game losing run against Rangers.

With nothing on the line, the sides played out an entertaining match which could easily have had even more goals.

Lawrence Shankland dinked in his 31st goal of a stellar campaign to give Hearts the lead but their awful winless run against Rangers, stretching back four years, looked to continue as the visitors hit three without reply after the break.

First, Ross McCausland scored a beauty to bring them level having skipped away from two players to fire in off a post from distance.

Then Todd Cantwell also used the inside of the post to beat Zander Clark after good play from Cyriel Dessers.

Fabio Silva looked to have wrapped up the win with a powerful drive from inside the box, but in the end a crazy game kept up a frantic pace right to the death.

Dexter Lembikisa's volley at the back post just three minutes after Silva's goal gave Hearts hope in the final 10 minutes, and they capitalised in stoppage time.

A punt up the pitch from goalkeeper Zander Clark was flicked towards the box, and Kyosuke Tagawa slammed in a wonderful volley to make it 3-3.

Were you at Tynecastle or following the match from home? Either way, we want your views on the game – have your say here.

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Rangers manager Philippe Clement: "I'm not happy with conceding three goals when you have four shots on target against, and scoring three goals from 10 shots on target.

"It's a game you need to win, we want to win every game. So it's disappointing in the last two seconds to concede a goal like that.

"Those are the lessons to take with a young squad and players playing out of position because of the circumstances."

On how many players will be fit to play next week's Scottish Cup final: "That's really early to ask this question. We still have one week to go and we're going to get the best out of everyone. We'll do everything to have as many players as possible to be ready for the game.

"It's impossible to predict. I wish I had a crystal ball but it's going to be decision making at the end of the week and what happens in training.

"It's a big week for us because it's a juggle to see who's available and fit and who can do the job. Some maybe for 30, 50, 60 minutes.

"And to go hard for a second trophy. We've been three times really close when we've played each other with one draw and two losses. Two times we played a big part of the game with 10 players.

"We want to get this trophy for our fans."

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Thomas Duncan, BBC Sport Scotland

Regardless of how next week's Scottish Cup final against Celtic goes there will be big changes at Rangers in the close season.

Manager Philippe Clement has said as much, citing this being the end of a cycle. That has been said at Rangers a few times in recent seasons, but now it has to be backed up by action.

Again their squad has come up short in the league, which is what they are ultimately judged on.

The manager's job is to decipher who can play a part going forward and who isn't up to it.

Whether they add to their League Cup next weekend at Hampden or not will change the mood around the club, but ultimately not the task of building a competitive team for next season.

Rangers have Dujon Sterling, Abdallah Sima, and Ryan Jack back from injury but they are on the bench for the final game against Hearts.

Robbie Fraser and Scott Wright come into the XI after their impact as substitutes against Dundee midweek.

Ridvan Yilmaz and Fabio Silva drop to the bench.

• Follow the action

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Heart of Midlothian welcome back Jorge Grant and Stephen Kingsley after they sat out the midweek draw at St Mirren. Calem Nieuwenhof (hamstring), Craig Halkett and Peter Haring (both knee) are all still absent.

Ryan Jack and Abdallah Sima return to the Rangers squad but will not start while there are still question marks over Leon Balogun.

John Lundstram serves the second of a two-match suspension while John Souttar, Tom Lawrence, Borna Barisic, Connor Goldson, Oscar Cortes, Rabbi Matondo and Danilo remain out.

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Philippe Clement says he's "disappointed" to have missed out the Scottish Premiership title because he wants to win "everything".