Jonatan Johansson is standing by Alfredo Morelos despite his nightmare display against Celtic.
Less than a month after Sevco turned down a £22m offer from China for the striker he was presented with an open goal in the closing minutes in the Glasgow derby.
Morelos looked certain to score but somehow from four yards out he stabbed his shot against the post with the ball bouncing out into the arms of Scott Bain.
At Ibrox the home fans looked on in dismay, Celtic fans thought that a goal had been disallowed for some bizarre reason.
Television viewers looked on in amazement at how the leading scorer in the country could miss such a straightforward chance.
When the cameras focussed on Morelos he looked devastated, a broken man, a striker with nowhere to go.
Johansson has been a key figure in the transformation of Sevco under Graeme Murty and is in no doubt that Morelos will bounce back from his moment of despair.
“People sometimes forget how young he is because he plays such a physical game,” he told the Sunday Post about Morelos.
“In the last two or three years, he has moved countries twice and had to learn new languages. These have been big changes for him. Moving from Finland to Rangers is a huge step up.
“He has been on a long journey for such a young lad, but he is a tough boy.
“I think the way he has played in the two games against Celtic and the way he has created chances in them shows how good he is.
“You want to score against your big rivals in any league. The goals unfortunately didn’t come, but I’m sure they will.
“Missing chances will make him angry.
“As a striker, I knew what it was like to miss big chances and you have to take it on the chin.”
Morelos was relegated to the bench for yesterday’s defeat from Kilmarnock but did make an appearance as a second half substitute.