'I'll take it!' - Rangers star reacts to Michael Beale remarks and issues 'massive jump' warning to Todd Cantwell

"A new Glen Kamara" was how Rangers manager Michael Beale described the midfielder's performance in the 2-0 win over 10-man St Johnstone on Saturday.

The Finnish international scored his first goal of the campaign with a composed effort in the 57th minute, sealing the victory after James Tavernier had made the breakthrough from the penalty spot early in the first-half. Kamara would have also added an assist had Alfredo Morelos brought his shooting boots to Ibrox, the Colombian failing to convert after his team-mate had threaded an inviting ball in behind the Saints defence.

Todd Cantwell's debut following his arrival from Norwich, Ianis Hagi's comeback from a year-out injured, and referee Willie Collum's erratic display – harshly sending off St Johnstone’s Nicky Clark then unusually going against VAR by refusing to upgrade a Ryan Jack yellow to red after being summoned to the pitchside monitor – may have grabbed the headlines, but it was Kamara who took centre stage with a classy display to earn praise from his boss.

“If I look at Glen’s performance, he played a fantastic pass for Alfredo in the first half and then scored a great goal," Beale said. “That’s like a new Glen Kamara, so he’s obviously listening to the messaging. He’s going to need to keep that up."

Rangers' Glen Kamara celebrates scoring his first goal of the season in the 2-0 win over St Johnstone. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

“I’ll take it!" the 27-year-old responded after being made aware of Beale's remarks. "I’ve had him here before, so I know what he wants from us as players and hopefully I can take that onto the pitch. He brought me here and has definitely helped me a lot in my career. I’m hoping I can repay him by playing well. He’s a really good coach on the training field and gives confidence to myself.”

Rangers eased to the three points but Beale admitted he saw "red flags" that still need addressed ahead of facing an in-form Hearts on Wednesday. While his team controlled the match, both before and after gaining the extra man, incisive moves such as the one that led to Kamara's goal were sporadic at best.

"I don’t think we had a great performance as a team," Kamara admitted. "We haven’t been here at Ibrox for a whole month and we wanted to come home and put on a good performance. When they went down to 10 men, we have to control the game better. It wasn’t our best but we’ll take the three points."

Despite a largely flat Rangers display, new signing Cantwell managed to give a good impression on his first start since November 2. There was enough of a spark there to suggest he can become an asset when up to full speed. Kamara had to adjust to the demands of playing for Rangers after making the move from Dundee in 2019 and he warned his new team-mate that he will have to do likewise after joining from the English Championship.

“I thought he was good," Kamara said of Cantwell’s debut. “It’s all new, coming to a new team and he hasn’t trained much with us but he did well. It’s a massive jump. I’m not too sure what the crowds are like in Norwich, but he’ll realise very soon that there are big expectations here. We’ve got to win every game and hopefully he’ll get used to that soon.”