With Bruno Alves limping off in the 17th minute against Celtic, a few Rangers fans would have no doubt been worried about losing such an experienced defender in such a crucial game, but they had no need to be.
As 21-year-old David Bates replaced Alves and shone in what must have been a daunting prospect for the defender.
Ahead of featuring against Celtic, the defender had only featured three times for the Gers in the Scottish Premiership this season.
Yet you wouldn’t have known that as he put in an accomplished performance to help his side not only earn a draw against their bitter rivals and the league leaders, but keep a clean sheet.
The 21-year-old had showcased his talents in his other appearances, but to be able to perform the way he did against Celtic, showed that he was ready to feature regularly.
Especially when you compare him to what Alves currently offers the team.
Alves has established himself at Rangers since moving from Cagliari Calcio in July 2017, but he hasn’t exactly delivered stellar performances and looks ready for the knackers yard.
The 36-year-old has had to deal with a few injury blips for sure, but there is yet to be a game where you think Rangers would have lost without him.
While this seems a hard criteria to meet, a player with such a huge reputation and heaps of experience should be impacting games more than he is.
It might simply be a case that Rangers have got him when he is passed his best, but that doesn’t help them achieve their goals.
He has only been at the club a short while, but given his latest injury set-back against Celtic which could see him miss several games, this is Graeme Murty’s chance to make a change.
It might be time to stop making excuses and settling for his average performances, instead Murty could opt to give young Bates a chance to prove himself.
Murty has been handed a loop hole with Alves’ injury because he doesn’t have to make the tough decision to drop an experienced hand for a young rookie.
However, Murty still has to be bold in putting his faith in Bates as Alves’ long term replacement and not look to the transfer window to sign a quick replacement if Alves is ruled out for a significant amount of time.
Bates is clearly the future of Rangers, while Alves should be left in the past.