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Joey Barton hails Rangers’ Jason Holt

Erik Sviatchenko of Celtic vies with Jason Holt of Rangers during the Rangers v Celtic Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership match at Ibrox Stadium on Dec...
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Ibrox side Glasgow Rangers lost Jason Holt on loan this summer.

Jason Holt of Rangers scores during the Scottish Championship match between Hibernian and Rangers at Easter Road on April 20, 2016 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Speaking to The Scottish Sun, Joey Barton has praised “tremendous” Rangers loanee Jason Holt after saving Fleetwood Town in midweek.

On Tuesday, the 25-year-old scored his first goal for the English club since joining on a season-long loan from Rangers.

Holt came off the bench at half time in Town’s first-round League Cup trip to Crewe Alexandra, and bagged the equaliser within seven minutes of the restart.

Barton’s side drew 1-1 in regulation and ultimately progressed to the second round of the competition via a penalty shootout.

The controversial former midfielder played alongside Holt at Ibrox during his spell at Rangers two years ago, and the Englishman was full of praise for tenacious Scot.

“He is a tremendous player. That was the reason we wanted to bring him to the football club. The wee man comes on at half time and just showcases what a phenomenal little player he is,” he told The Scottish Sun.

“He probably should have had a second goal. We looked back at the incident and he was level, which we felt he was in real time. The officials, who on balance did really well, have got to get decisions like that right.”

Leaving Rangers on loan was always going to be the best move for Holt, who would have found it ever so hard to get regular football in Scotland under Steven Gerrard.

The Gers boss has an abundance of quality midfielders – including injured duo Jordan Rossiter and Graham Dorrans – so Holt made the right decision to leave and so far it looks a good one.

Scott Sinclair (C) of Celtic competes for the ball against Jason Holt (L) and Emerson Hyndman (R) of Rangers  during the Scottish Cup Semi-Final match between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden...