So often the scene of Rangers’ domestic downfall in seasons gone by has been the midfield. The centre to be specific. The home of porous passing, responsibility shirked. Ball retention? No problem, but the pass to make a difference and decide a game? No chance.

For so much of yesterday’s 2-1 win against St Mirren in Paisley, it seemed as though a similar story would provide that all-too-frequent ending - as Rangers passed ahead of a block, relying on a bit of magic. Although it was the quality of James Tavernier’s cross to assist Cyriel Dessers’ header which ultimately took all three points, that moment was only made possible by the pass to create it.

Mohamed Diomande is starting to break the trend of safety and square passes in Rangers’ midfield. As time ticked away at the SMISA stadium and title hopes appeared set to finally crumble, the No.42 picked the ball up with some idea and invention. Splitting through the tight and compact St Mirren lines marshalled all afternoon by Stephen Robinson on the touchline. In a game where Philippe Clement’s side rarely had control of their attacks, this was an exception.

Rangers did not look or feel like a team chasing anything, let alone the remnants of a title challenge, for much of the afternoon. Only shading the xG 1.3 to 1.01.

Much of the game felt representative of how they’ve gone from two ahead to three behind Celtic. Slow starts, slower restarts, complacency in certain fixtures and no real intensity. After all, their title challenge has not fallen against Celtic, away at Kilmarnock or against an in-form Hearts. It’s been at home to Motherwell who hadn’t won at Ibrox in this writer’s lifetime previously, or away at Ross County who hasn’t beaten Rangers in anyone's alongside a forgetful draw in Dundee that Dujon Sterling himself lamented was played at the pace of a “dead rubber”.

Was yesterday much different? Not really. If not for a big Jack Butland save on the stroke of half time St Mirren would’ve taken the lead and proceeded to guard their box with all the more aggression. This time Clement’s side found a way.

Diomande was not flawless in Paisley and his pass leading up to Dessers’ winner didn’t even create the goal directly. But perhaps without always looking for a strand of thread to make football make sense the 22-year-old’s presence, having been absent for a loss at Dingwall and dropped points in Dundee, pushed the scales ever so slightly in Clement’s favour. Rangers already look a far worse team without Diomande.

Rangers were not always planning on moving for a midfielder in the January market but when the possibility of signing Diomande arose, priorities changed. The player who arrived from FC Nordsjælland was seen as the profile of player the club should be moving for - young and full of potential while also ready to make an impact now.

READ MORE: Inside Diomande's rise and Ibrox transfer: Rangers kits as a kid, Koppen and a dream

“Dio made an incredibly fast integration,” Clement commented yesterday. “He is somebody with a lot of potential, a lot of technical qualities but also the right mentality. Like I said from the beginning, it is somebody who will only grow in the future and with every game he takes lessons and becomes better.”

Passes played to Diomande during St Mirren vs Rangers

Being a player capable of playing across the midfield isn’t valuable in giving Clement versatility from game to game but during games. Football is too fluid to not have multi-faceted individuals. Diomande is as comfortable taking the ball off his defenders as he is running beyond. Capable of splitting your defence with a pass or carry. 

Often he can be seen moving with his arms outstretched, almost conducting his teammates and berating their lack of anticipation. We forget the importance of the passing receiver in football - their run can be the difference between a wasted pass or a great one.

As Diomande dropped deep to receive the ball yesterday, notice two things. Firstly, he doesn’t just play the ball to Tavernier’s feet, where the right-back could be easily pressed and forced backwards.

Instead, he moves forward with the ball, pointing to someone. Here he starts to conduct the play.

We can see in the reverse image, Diomande is motioning for Todd Cantwell to come short.

Why? As Kiltie is forced to keep his body front-facing to confront Diomande and Cantwell drops off dragging Fraser with him, a gap appears in the St Mirren that the midfielder can punch a pass through. 

It may only get Tavernier into a wide and deep position but it’s taken the right-back ahead of his man and dragged a St Mirren centre-back wide, while unloading their presence in the box. You can hear Tavernier encourage Dujon Sterling to attack his cross as Rangers fashion a three-vs-three at the back post from which position Dessers can score.

It was one of the only occasions in the game where Rangers broke through the St Mirren defence to create a chance when they’d been set up in their block. And it derived from Diomande's dictating of play. Resisting the easy pass and instead making something happen.

So often when trying to break down low blocks in tense moments like yesterday during recent seasons, the Ibrox side have had creative players ahead of the ball with sidewards in midfield unable to find them.

Rangers have lacked a controller and commander in the centre of the pitch since Steven Davis stopped playing regularly in 2021. Diomande’s outstretched arms and responsibility shoulder indicates the conductor he’s becoming.

Rangers still need depth and quality in the middle but in Diomande, they have their midfielder to build the next spine of this side around.