With the Scottish Premiership title race at boiling point, Rangers striker ... trends now
When Cyriel Dessers slalomed his way through the Real Betis defence to score a vital Europa League goal in December, Rangers fans hoped it would be a turning point.
Not only in terms of their season, as they secured progression into the knockout stage, but also in the personal fortunes of their much-maligned striker. It was a platform upon which to build.
Yet, what unfolded that night at the Estadio Benito Villamarin in Seville proved to be a false dawn for Dessers. He would score just once in his next five games, a run which included a glaring miss in the Old Firm defeat to Celtic on December 30.
For a while, it felt like those two games against Betis and Celtic would be the two main points of reference in a season where feelings of immense frustration have surrounded Dessers.
Supporters had witnessed the best and the worst of the Nigerian international striker in the space of little over a fortnight.
False dawns have been a regular feature of his debut season at Ibrox. Back in February, Dessers scored twice in a 5-0 rout of Hearts at Ibrox.
Cyriel Dessers made the difference in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Hearts at Hampden
Dessers grabbed his second goal of the match to secure a final showdown against rivals Celtic
Rangers are still going for a treble this season and need Dessers to be at his best for the run-in
He then scored just once in his next nine games. Failing to build on promising performances has been a recurring theme.
On the back of his latest match-winning double against Hearts at Hampden on Sunday, it’s surely a case of now or never for Dessers.
With five games of the league campaign remaining, and a Scottish Cup final against Celtic to come, he needs to use his Hampden heroics as a launchpad. If he can hit a purple patch over these final few weeks of the season, there’s a chance he could yet fire Rangers to a Treble.
Well-versed in the art of scoring goals in a Rangers jersey, Kris Boyd believes the numbers don’t tell the full story with the Ibrox No 9.
Having scored 19 goals so far this term, Dessers will almost certainly break through the 20-goal mark — but Boyd insists it should be so much more.
‘Dessers has been battered from pillar to post — but he’s still got more goals than Kyogo [16], yet he gets hailed as a hero,’ said Boyd. ‘The flipside is that Kyogo’s done it in big games.
‘Listen, 19 goals is a decent return, but what could it have been? Because of the number of chances that Rangers create, you’d expect it to be more.
‘Rangers and Celtic strikers should be scoring 20-25 goals a season with the chances they get. It is a difficult one because, in a way, you can say he’s scoring goals. But then every time you leave a match, every time you pick up a paper or tune in to a radio station, all the talk is about the chances he’s missed.
‘He’s scored two goals that have taken Rangers to a cup final, he’s scored important goals already. But you just feel he should have had more.
‘You go back to the Ross County game. Had his chance up there gone in, Rangers would probably have gone won that game. He had another opportunity at Hampden to help himself to a hat-trick. I
