Borna Barisic has had a tough time since he arrived in Scotland a year ago – signed by Steven Gerrard because he impressed against Rangers in the Europa League, Barisic has not adapted well to the SPFL.
After initially starting well for Rangers Barisic picked up an injury, and when he returned in January, he was not the same player and a series of awful performances followed that saw some Gers fans turn on the left-back.
One game against Kilmarnock stands out as particularly bad – as Chris Burke ran rings around in him in a 2-1 win for Killie.
The fact that Gerrard has decided to play Andy Halliday, a midfielder, and Jon Flanagan, a right-back, over Barisic sums up his woes at Ibrox.
Another mark against the Croatian international is the fact that he did not feature in Rangers’ 3-0 win over East Fife in the Betfred Cup.
Gerrard made ten changes to his side from their 3-1 win over Midtjylland, but there was still no place for Barisic, however, on Sunday he may well have provided the turning point for his Gers career.
With Gerrard’s side struggling to break down a resolute St Mirren side – up stepped the man everyone had forgotten about to save the day and maintain Rangers’ 100% record in the league.
The Gers were awarded a free-kick 25-yards-out that favoured a left-footer – rather than usual set-piece taker James Tavernier.
Barisic could be forgiven for turning it down considering the amount of stick he gets, but no he instead placed a beauty into the top corner beyond Vaclav Hladky.
He then defended strongly for the rest of the game – as the Gers kept their first clean-sheet in the league.
Although he still could be second choice to Flanagan Barisic’s winner and all-round performance could be the turning point of his time in Scotland.