ONE GIANT LEITH

Clement insists treble hero Hamza has talent to reach top but Ibrox boss irked by Hibs penalty award

- BY ANDY NEWPORT

RANGERS suffered yet another significant step backwards as they threw away victory at Easter Road yesterday.

But Philippe Clement reckons Moroccan wonderkid Hamza Igamane has taken a huge leap forward with his Leith treble.

It was a day of mixed emotions for the beleaguered Belgian as he watched with pride as his summer signing put on a fabulous finishing display to net his first Rangers hat-trick.

But the 22-year-old's hard work up top was undone by some brutal bits of defending as Hibs were twice allowed to level.

That was hugely frustrating for a manager who thought he'd watched his team turn a corner with their derby demolition job on Celtic.

Clement was still cursing his luck - and the penalty call he feels robbed his team of their momentum at the start of the second half- as he sat down for his post-match press conference.

But he still found time to heap praise of his young striker.

Asked if Igamane had given a fresh demonstration of why he has such high hopes for the former FAR Rabat ace, he said: "Yes and it's about continuation in that way.

"I got a lot of questions at the beginning of the season about why we'd done that transfer. So it's good that people are seeing why now.

"Hamza is somebody who is really hungry to become better.

"He made giant steps the last three, four months, technically, tactically for sure, and even more physically, to cope to the rhythm that we play here in the league, to cope also to get more playing minutes, to be able to do that.