DAVID McCALLUM says he was pleased at the different sides of the game that his Rangers B players showed in this afternoon’s 2-1 victory over Queen’s Park in the Glasgow Cup semi-final.
The young Gers marched into a second successive Old Firm final in the competition thanks to goals either side of the half-time interval from Thompson Ishaka and Findlay Curtis.
The Light Blues were scarcely troubled by their opponents until Tyrece McDonnell’s unstoppable long-range strike brought the Spiders back into the contest, with Rangers forced to show their defensive resilience to get over the line.
Speaking to RangersTV, the Gers B head coach commented: “It was a really enjoyable first half. I think we started a bit slowly, but we had a lot of control in the game once we found our rhythm.
“I said to the lads that we wanted to be really energetic when we didn’t have the ball and showed them a couple of different structural things that we thought would be effective within the game.
“We had a lot of good opportunities off the back of regain situations, really quick transitions, and we should have been more comfortable at half-time.
“It was an excellent goal from Thompson Ishaka, and we had one or two other chances where we could have been more comfortable.
“We were really pleased with what we done with the ball in the first half, but we didn’t have as much control in the second half.
“It’s about trying to get that message onto the players when the game is playing a different way, you need to be difficult to break down.
“The second goal was an excellent finish from Findlay Curtis after a great piece of play down the right-hand side from Archie Stevens and Connor Allan.
“I have to say they scored an excellent goal too, but Mason [Munn] didn’t have a lot to do which is testament to how we’ve been out of possession.
“But then you need to dig deep, be resilient, and find different ways to influence the game when you don’t have the ball.
“It was a mixture of things, but to win the game and get to the final is always something you need to grab when it comes.”
A young Rangers side was boosted by the inclusion of first-team midfielders, Ryan Jack and Alex Lowry, who were stepping up their recovery from injury with valuable first-half minutes.
McCallum says he was delighted at the influence the senior professionals had around his Gers B group and believes the energy and style his side displayed was influenced by the variety in experience.
He added: “I thought we saw the influence of different age groups around the team.
“In the last few weeks we’ve been training with different numbers of players for various reasons given the Under-18s season is still ongoing and we have a lot of players training with the first-team.
“We brought together a group of players to try and make sure we perform well but also to win the game too.
“I look at Alex Lowry coming back in for his first game. We gave him 30 minutes to build his way back into it, which was a pre-planned situation.
“Likewise, Ryan Jack getting 45 minutes. For the young lads to have that experience around them and feel that influence was evident, not only in the game but also the preparation leading up to it.”