JEERS FOR SOUVENIRS

Dessers: Getting booed was hard but I will focus on the beautiful moments that come along at Gers

- ANDY NEWPORT

AS slaps to the face go, they don't get much harsher than being booed BEFORE you've touched a ball.

But Cyriel Dessers can shrug that off knowing that the same people who jeered him that day against Aberdeen have ended the last four games rushing to slap him on the back.

The Rangers frontman continues to enjoy something of a love-hate relationship with the Ibrox faithful.

For every slick finish like the one in Seville last season against Real Betis or last week's Old Trafford stunner, there's been a clumsy pass or an ugly miss to generate groans.

But things reached a new low earlier this month when the enigmatic Nigerian was targeted by a small but vocal element of the Rangers faithful as he replaced Hamza Igamane seconds from the end of a Premiership win over Jimmy Thelin's Dons.

Whether it was unhappiness over the withdrawal of the club's new Moroccan poster boy or lingering resentment over the fact Dessers did not step up to take a penalty against Celtic in last month's ill-fated shootout with Celtic in the League Cup Final, only those responsible can say.

What's clear is that Dessers didn't enjoy the spiteful abuse. But as has been clear throughout his 18 months in Glasgow, the 30-year-old isn't someone who dwells on the negatives.