Good person left in game — one making progress slowly? (9)

I believe the answer is:

struggler

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'one making progress slowly?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'good person left in game' is the wordplay.
'good person' becomes 'st' (saint).
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'game' becomes 'rugger' (rugger is a kind of game).
'l' placed inside 'rugger' is 'ruggler'.
'st'+'ruggler'='STRUGGLER'

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(Another definition for struggler that I've seen is " one coping with difficulty".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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