Rangers: Steven Gerrard’s praise for ‘dream’ striker Jermain Defoe

The Ibrox boss introduced the former England striker with 24 minutes remaining of Wednesday’s clash with Dundee, and watched as he put the seal on a 4-0 thumping.

The Light Blues had dazzled with three goals in the opening 24 minutes against Jim McIntyre’s strugglers but they failed to light up Ibrox quite as brightly after the break as they allowed their tempo to drop.

That all changed in the final minute, however, as Defoe ran on to a Ryan Jack pass, shrugged off Ryan McGowan before slamming an unstoppable drive past Dark Blues keeper Seng Dieng.

It was the 36-year-old’s fifth goal for Rangers after just six starts and three substitute appearances.

Gerrard, who starred alongside Defoe on 40 occasions for England, says his Ibrox team-mates have quickly come to realise the on-loan Bournemouth ace’s value.

He told RangersTV: “That is what we’ve brought him here for, to score goals.

“It doesn’t matter whether Jermain plays 90 minutes or 60 or 30, we want him to be a goal threat, and his movement is fantastic.

“I used to love playing with him. He’s a dream for a midfielder because his movement tells you where to play the ball.

“It was a great pass from Ryan and a great finish, and he’ll continue to do that if we provide the service for him.”

Gerrard was pleased to see his side rack up a fifth straight clean sheet.

“We’ve always said that will be our base and that’s the only way you can build success is if you are solid at the back,” he explained. “But we gave Dundee some chances that we shouldn’t have. At the end they had a couple of breakaways and a couple of efforts at goal.

“In the second half we should be playing in their half and really sustaining attacks and just keep passing and killing them with the ball.

“We never but it’s another clean sheet, another strong win. But Jermain Defoe has made me feel a lot better because that’s a hell of a finish at the end.”