St Johnstone left Ibrox pointless.
But, apart from now being without DJ Jaiyesimi for the next couple of games due to suspension, they go into three more realistically winnable away games physically and emotionally scar-free following their 2-0 defeat to Rangers.
Courier Sport picks out three talking points from the midweek contest.
Wisely resting two key men
I thought Craig Levein got his team selection spot on.
This was Saints’ fifth game in just over a fortnight.
And, even with 11 men on the pitch, taking a point or points off the best team in the country at the moment was an extremely remote prospect.
It was the time for bigger picture pragmatism and giving influential senior pros a rest.
Graham Carey and Ryan McGowan, both 34, have been pivotal to Saints’ recent revival.
But there are more important games to come before the mid-season break – two of them on artificial pitches.
Rest is as important as rhythm.
At full-time, Levein looked like a man who was pretty content that his team had showed the right stuff in the face of numerical adversity and that no injuries were picked up in a virtually non-stop defensive shift.
There are times when you can go all-in at getting a result at Ibrox or Celtic Park.
This wasn’t one of them.
Olufunwa a work in progress
At the opposite end of the experience scale to McGowan and Carey you’ll find Dare Olufunwa.
Until he arrived at McDiarmid Park in the summer, the 22-year-old had been restricted to academy football.
With Saints, he had just four starts under his belt before Wednesday night and two of those were against Rangers and Celtic.
The last was three months ago and Olufunwa hadn’t even appeared as a substitute under Craig Levein.
All that needs to be taken into consideration when assessing the former Liverpool and Southampton defender’s performance at Ibrox.
There was promise.
The position of right-sided centre-half in a back-three looks to be the most natural one for him.
With an even younger player outside him at wing-back, Fran Franczak, he coped well in the main against the pace of Abdallah Sima and the craft of Ridvan Yilmaz.
As well as the obvious defensive requirements, that role demands effective use of the ball.
Even though this wasn’t the night to showcase that side of his game, the fact that he had the second highest percentage (80%) of the Saints starters for pass completion in the final third bodes well.
Olufunwa was caught out by James Tavernier’s cross that resulted in the Rangers opening goal.
He’s got the right manager to help him improve his body position, concentration and spatial awareness.
Olufunwa’s physical assets are obvious and, as a project player, there’s certainly potential for him to be turned into a first team regular.
‘Kicked off the pitch’
Philippe Clement is the manager of stature Rangers have been crying out for.
His teams are set-up well, he’s getting more out of a group of players that were written off as not up to the job before his arrival than any supporter could realistically have expected and he’s carried himself well in his media duties.
There’s a different style of football developing but Clement could turn out to be Rangers’ answer to Ange Postecoglou (and, in time, find his way into the English Premier League).
But he made a poor choice of words in his post-match press conference.
By using a phrase like “kicked off the pitch”, he has inaccurately characterised DJ Jaiyesimi’s tackle on John Lundstram.
It was an ill-advised attempt to retain possession after a clumsy first touch.
A red card? Absolutely.
But kicking Lundstram off the pitch it was not.
Clement should have left it there but couldn’t resist broadening the theme out.
“We had an even worse one later in the game when the guy luckily hit the ball and not my player (thought to be Dan Phillips on Kieran Dowell),” said the Belgian.
“The intensity was there to break a leg.”
That was a 50/50 challenge the like of which no manager would want to see a central midfielder decide against engaging in.
Hopefully Clement will reflect on a game that had one bad tackle in it and even that wasn’t malicious.
If, however, he reflects and decides to pursue a ‘my players need more protection from the officials’ narrative then hard-earned respect from the wider Scottish football community will receive its first dent.
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