In the lead up to the January window, plenty of Rangers fans were pleading for the club to bring back Ryan Hardie and to give him a chance in the first team.
Such calls were hardly surprising. After recovering from injury, he scored five times in his first five starts on loan at Livingston.
It appeared that Steven Gerrard, was suitably impressed by the purple patch.
He recalled the 21-year-old at the beginning of last month, and he took part in the club’s mid-season training camp in Tenerife.
As it turned out though, that was purely to afford the manager a closer look at the striker and to secure his Rangers future.
Shortly after the squad returned home, he signed a new deal.
Simultaneously, the club announced his return to Livi until the end of the season.
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Recently, that decision has been proved correct by a number of factors.
Rangers’ three remaining strikers are all firing.
Alfredo Morelos has three in three, Defoe has two in his last two and Lafferty scored in his last start at Cowdenbeath.
Hardie wouldn’t get a look in with those players in form.
Talented youngster still developing
Furthermore, Hardie has suffered a mini slump of late.
Neither he, nor Livingston, have scored in the last four outings.
Yet to get off the mark in 2019, it’s a timely reminder that this is a player who is still developing.
He got off to an incredible start at the Tony Macaroni, but it’s easy to get carried away.
During his first season of top flight football, he was never going to score every week.
Importantly, though, he’s still the main man for Gary Holt’s side. Therefore, he will continue to get opportunities to impress between now and the end of the season, which simply wouldn’t have been available at Ibrox.
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