John Lundstram had to make the most of his home comforts and family time while he had the chance to rest, recover and regroup away from his Rangers team-mates. Once Philippe Clement’s side hit the road again, the hard work will kickstart and sights will be set on more silverware this season.

Lundstram will link up with Clement, his staff and his squad when Rangers head to their winter training camp in La Manga next week. He will do so having been refreshed by a return to his home city and the opportunity to see his family and young daughter. Like all players, the Scouser must make sacrifices in the pursuit of success.

Lundstram has certainly played his part in that regard since Clement was appointed at Ibrox in October. The League Cup sits proudly in the Trophy Room once again and Rangers have a last 16 tie in the Europa League to look forward to after their historic win over Real Betis. It is, of course, the Premiership title that takes precedence, though, and Clement’s side are well in the race, despite their first defeat under the Belgian boss at Parkhead last weekend.

Clement placed emphasis on four main pillars – technical, tactical, mental and physical – when he arrived at Ibrox and time to really work on each aspect has been in short supply during a hectic run of fixtures at home and abroad. The trip to Spain will, therefore, be a useful exercise in many regards for a squad that have had to overcome adversity on and off the park to keep the momentum ticking over.

Lundstram has been one of the mainstays of the side during that schedule. The opportunity to take stock has been welcomed by the midfielder. The chance to win medals will soon become the priority once again.

“It is hard to have proper family time when you are trying to recover and are getting it in the ear from the missus and are always on the couch,” Lundstram said. “You have just got to recover as best you can in between games when they are coming fast. It is just about spending some quality time together now with my missus and the little one.

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“Yeah, hopefully [we can kick on in the second half of the season]. That’s what we’re aiming for. We want to go as far as we can in every competition. As soon as we have a little rest and recovery it will do the lads who are carrying little bumps and knocks here and there good. To get this week off will be nice and then we can get back going in La Manga.

“It is tough for the lads who have been playing week in, week out because it is just game-recover, game-recover. I think now he means going when it is week to week. At La Manga we can really focus on some individual stuff.

"We are all at different fitness levels and I am sure he probably wants to drive that on as well. I think now we can build on individual programmes and fitness levels. I am looking forward to having a little rest and trying to get a base level going.”

The Old Firm defeat may have been a setback for Rangers but it is a not a blow that they cannot recover from. The eight-point deficit to Celtic could be whittled down to just two if the games in hand against Hibernian and Ross County can be won and there have been enough positives from the Clement era thus far to suggest that Rangers are serious Premiership contenders this term.

Victory over Kilmarnock in midweek rounded off what has been a rollercoaster first half of the season for Rangers and Clement must now use January wisely to find the required gains within his group and to make the necessary additions to it. If the coming weeks are successful, then next few months could be as well.

Goals from Ross McCausland, Abdallah Sima and Todd Cantwell earned Clement’s side their first three points of the New Year. There must be plenty more to come if a campaign that could have been written off is now to deliver on the optimism that has been forged under Clement’s guidance.

“It was,” Lundstram said when asked if it was vital that Rangers recovered from their Old Firm defeat with victory over Kilmarnock. “The performance was really good. I thought we started great. We came back into it and got the two goals. I just thought it was a really professional performance. We could have scored more goals of course, we would have really liked that. But they did well to come back into it.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve overachieved. We have won the League Cup, but we’re expected to do that.  Yeah, we topped our Europa League group, but we haven’t won anything in that department yet. So we are still striving, still growing. We did great to win the League Cup which was fantastic, but that is just the start. We want to push on now. Nothing is won yet.

“Anyone who can help us the better, whether it is lads coming back in injury wise or signings or lads finding form. All the help we can get is good.”

The transformed fortunes of Lundstram perhaps mirror the improvements that have been made across the board in recent months. The dark days of Michael Beale are behind Rangers but they cannot be fully forgotten as Clement continues to address the legacy issues in terms of the title race and the squad.

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Many members of the group have spoken about the raising of standards and the new found feelgood factor. On the terraces, there is a belief once again. It has not been perfect, but it has certainly been encouraging at Ibrox.

“The manager has just come in and probably given everyone a lift,” Lundstram said. “Not just myself. He has galvanised the whole building, the staff included. There is a better feeling around the club. I don’t know, I am just happier I think. I think that just shows. When you are happier as a player you put in better performances and that has shown.

“There is a lot of work that goes into it that people don’t see. There is so much work that goes into getting these performances, it is not easy to just keep churning them out. People don’t see the little knocks behind the scenes that players are carrying. Tav has been carrying knocks, but people don’t see that. You really do want to get out on the football pitch even if you are carrying stuff. It is not as easy as that to keep getting results, there is so much work that goes into it.”