“Someone asked me if I’d fought with a bear - that tells you a lot”.

Leon Balogun’s response, when asked about a hard-fought 1-0 victory for Rangers at Tynecastle on Wednesday evening, encapsulated the 35-year-old’s overall contribution since being reinstated to the team by Philippe Clement.

Before the Belgian arrived at the club, the Nigerian international had played only one of eight available 90 minutes in the Scottish Premiership. Despite missing out in the first two league matches Clement took charge of, he’s played in all five since. It seems clear that the manager now has a favoured centre-back pairing and Balogun, next to Connor Goldson, is firmly part of it.

“I am really grateful and it means a lot because I have had a tough spell being on the sidelines. Like you said, it seems to be a bit of trust at least and I hope I can pay it back,” he said reflecting on the midweek win.

“I have been a professional for 16 years so it does not always go that way [when a new manager arrives]. I have seen it turn out completely different but I am happy it went that way.

"I think he [Clement] has been a breath of fresh air in his ways, I am sure you’ve had encounters so you get an idea of his persona and I think the boys take it on really well.”

The defender was a re-signing in the summer having initially been released by the club in the summer of 2022. He followed Beale to QPR that summer and joined up with him again after Leon King suffered a pre-season injury believed to be far more serious than materialised.

The deal was viewed from the outside as a sensible move if made on the presumption that Balogun would provide cover in the defence and the fact that he was not included in the European squad by Beale confirms that. Clement has taken a different view, however. He likes the Nigerian international's strength and dominance in duels and in the five league games Belogun’s started next to Goldson, Rangers have only conceded one goal.

READ MORE: Why Rangers played so many long balls against Hearts 'just like they practiced'

“I think what you can see is momentum," Balogun continued, discussing his side's run of form. 

"It would be foolish to think things will go our way. If I look into the dressing room there is no one taking things for granted or thinking this will go by itself. We need to keep building, even the way we came off the last two games where we had a setback and then came into the games, that shows the character we’re building at the moment.”

In one sense, the fact that Balogun cannot play away at Real Betis next Thursday is a blessing in disguise. If unable to consistently play two games in a week during his first spell at the club then logic would suggest such chances have slimmed in the subsequent months and years. Especially considering the significance of injury issues experienced by the club in recent months, luck does not appear on their side.

The defender came back to watch the team from the stands last season and is a squad member who believes in a larger cause than himself. And yet, Balogun remains a competitive professional who wants to play as often as possible. You’d imagine that when Clement selects his European squad after the winter break, whether that’s for the Europa League or Conference League knock-out stages, Balogun won’t suffer a similar fate as before.

“I came back looking forward to these European nights at Ibrox," he said when asked about missing out on the group stage selection. "The decision was made weeks ago, for now, it’s about pushing the team on in the way that I can from the stands - that’s my role now.”

Meanwhile, Clement confirmed post-match on Wednesday that Tom Lawrence will be assessed for a muscle injury that forced him off early on at Tynecastle.

Lawrence, 29, has battled consistently with injury since arriving at the club last summer. He looked to be over injurt issues towards the end of Beale’s tenure but was forced off against Real Betis in late September.

“It’s difficult for me in this moment because I have never had it in a team that I worked with, that so many players fall out injured,” a frustrated Clement said when asked for his thoughts.

“We need to assess that tomorrow to make an assessment, that’s the downside. It’s not good to change players in the first half. We’ve lost Borna before this game. We also don’t have the time to train them and make them stronger because we have game by game by game. We need a lot of good work until January, until then we need to puzzle every time to find the best 11 for that game and make the right changes.

“[Barisic has] a small muscle problem so I don’t know how long he will be out. Tom is also a muscle problem, we will see if it is bad or not.”

The manager has also called for his side to make life easier for themselves after several missed chances led to a nervy finish in the capital. Danilo, who hasn’t scored since his opener against Sparta Prague almost a month ago to the day, fluffed two opportunities to extend his side’s lead while Abdallah Sima could’ve added his second late on.

“We created a lot of chances but that’s still a working point. We need to be more clinical,” he said.

“We need to kill off the game if we can and get the second goal. It would have been a different end to the game because it allowed Hearts to stay in the game and with every long ball or long throw, they were looking for the chance that drops to someone’s feet. We had five big chances but for me, with our qualities, it should be at least three goals. So more things to work on.”