The young Gers fell to eventual defeat at the Leicester City Training Ground, although they matched their first-team opposition for the majority of the contest after taking the lead through Thompson Ishaka.
Speaking to RangersTV after the match, Lyall commented: “I thought we started very well. We went 1-0 up and kept the ball very well, but when they turned it around and went 2-1 up, we sort of went away a little bit. However, we held ourselves accountable and started playing well again as the game went on.
“We played just as good, if not better, for large parts of the game against a very good first-team from a top division in Europe. They’re a top team. It shows us that we’re capable of playing at that standard. I thought we held ourselves to a high standard for most of the game, albeit we slipped off at the end, but we were very good for the majority of the game.”
The fixture marked the start of the side’s competitive Best v Best games programme, with the young Gers set to welcome Everton Under-21s and Burnley Under-21s to Glasgow over the next week.
Lyall believes the experience of matching Belgian Pro League opposition can only stand the team in good stead as they prepare for an exciting double-header.
He added: “It’s the little mistakes where they punished us. I wouldn’t say their goals were top, top quality; it was more on us making a mistake and they capitalised on it. That’s the sort of level that you play against, and it showed us today that we need to cut the slackness out and move forward from that.
“It’s two top sides who we’ll be coming up against [next]. They may not be as experienced as OH Leuven were today, but it’s still two top academies down in England. Hopefully we can take the positive energy into our next two games and get two big performances.”
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