At the halfway mark of this unusual season, an unexpected fact emerged, challenging prior assumptions.

In the early weeks, the idea that Rangers could boast the best defense in the Premiership seemed far-fetched.

However, as Russell Martin’s open style transitioned into Danny Rohl’s more organized system, the team’s defensive capabilities have notably improved.

Achieving such a defensive record is impressive in any scenario. The accomplishment is even more remarkable given that many clean sheets have come without key players like John Souttar and Derek Cornelius.

While Rohl must address the issue of his strikers’ lack of goals, this strong defensive record offers a solid base for future development.

Danny Rohl has guided Rangers to six clean sheets in his 10 league matches as manager

Goalkeeper Jack Butland has bounced back from a poor display against Hearts at Tynecastle

Thelo Aasgaard scores in Rangers’ 1-0 victory against Motherwell at Ibrox on Saturday

“I think we discussed it a few weeks ago, particularly with injuries forcing young players into the back line,” commented goalkeeper Jack Butland. “It’s challenging under those circumstances.”

‘But in fairness, I think they’re all growing. I think we’re getting better and those six clean sheets in recent times in the league are going to really help us going forward.’

For Butland, there was particular satisfaction to be taken from shutting out Motherwell at the weekend.

Six days previously at Tynecastle, he must have felt like crawling into a hole in the ground at full-time after being culpable for both goals in a 2-1 loss.

The manner in which he conceded the second — diving out of the way of Lawrence Shankland’s opportunist strike — was simply hard to fathom. It gave him much food for thought over the festive period.

‘You can’t put it down to anything,’ the keeper reflected. ‘I’m not sure I’ve conceded a goal like that second goal in my whole career — the scenario of it, the timing of it, the manner of it.

‘This game’s always got, especially goalkeeping, a way of reminding you that you’re human and it’s difficult.

‘Of course, you feel great going into it. I felt good within the game. It’s one of those things, you have to just put it down to a moment and you have to move on.

‘As difficult as that was for the first 24, 48 hours, and there was a lot of thinking about it and a lot of what could I have done differently, the reality is I train for every situation, I train for everything, I push myself and that was just what I got back to this week.’

Getting back to the only thing he’s ever known on Monday morning was a cathartic experience. And having reminded himself and the watching audience that he’s actually pretty good at what he does next time out, Butland intends to use a man of the match display in the weekend win as a springboard.

‘It felt great the minute I got back out on the grass because I know that I’m important, I need to be important for this team,’ he said.

‘I was really, really disappointed as I’m sure you will know and expect of me. But it’s the life of a goalkeeper.

‘I’m not blasé about it, I don’t not care about it. It’s difficult, but you have to move on and you have to just go past it.

‘I feel like I’ve made some really important inputs for this team throughout my time here and certainly this season.

‘You can never make up for things, but it’s the life of a goalkeeper sometimes — you’ve got to dust yourself down and get on with it and try and be important for the team.

‘Hopefully, that’s what it looked like on Saturday and I certainly felt like it helped. We helped each other and we came away with a good win.

‘It was a really important three points. We came up against a side that have been producing some really good stuff and gave us a really tough game. It got a bit chaotic at the end, but really happy that we’ve managed to come away from it and take all three points.’

In any normal season, Rangers would already be talking of closing the gap, making Celtic sweat a little down the home straight and trying to finish on a high. This campaign is anything but normal, though.

With Hearts out in front and Celtic trying to get to grips with the demands of a new manager in Wilfried Nancy, no team looks like they will run away with this.

In a race which might well be won by a side hitting as few as 85 points, Rangers are still in the running.

It’s probably stating the obvious, though, that starting with the visit of St Mirren, Rohl’s men will still need to pick up the pace.

‘I think we’ve got to build on some good things that we’re doing,’ Butland stressed. ‘I think a lot’s been said about it. We’ve been criticised heavily, we’ve bounced back, we’ve had some good moments, we’ve had some really difficult ones and it goes without saying that as a club we’re not where we want to be.

‘However, we’ve sort of managed to scrap and fight and we’re still there or thereabouts and have an opportunity with the game in hand on the leaders currently to get a bit closer.

‘We’ve got some important games that we need to handle. We just have to keep trying to get better.

‘We’ve been through some turbulent times, we’ve had managerial changes, we’ve had lots of injuries and we’ve had a lot of things to deal with.

‘But hopefully we’re growing and we’re learning from all these experiences and getting better and being more consistent, continuing on with being difficult to score against if we can be.’