GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST has vowed to support defender Borna Barisic in an attempt to rebuild his confidence and allow him to flourish in the closing weeks of the campaign.

The Croatian endured a night to forget against Celtic last week as he was replaced at half-time of the 3-0 Old Firm defeat at Parkhead.

Barisic then lost his place in the starting line-up for the visit of Hearts on Sunday as Calvin Bassey reverted to a left-back berth.

But the 29-year-old was called upon earlier than expected against Hibernian as Bassey was moved once again following the injury sustained by Leon Balogun.

And Van Bronckhorst hopes Barisic can now put his derby difficulties behind him and start to show the kind of influence that he is capable of at Ibrox once again.

Van Bronckhorst said: "Of course, as I said, it is also for Borna a difficult game. Those are also moments that will happen in your career.

"The only thing we need to do is make sure we give him confidence, we help him. It is not easy. You see when he came in, he had to come in at a split-second, which is always hard and without a warm-up.

"I think when the game progressed he started to get in the game better. He is one of our players and we support him, not only me but the players, support him to get the performances which he needs."