The young Gers will run out against League One Stenhousemuir in seven days’ time and they played out a competitive 2-2 draw with Stirling Albion, a division below, at the Rangers Training Centre.
Alex Lowry was on the scoresheet twice for the Light Blues as they stepped up their preparations ahead of the cup clash at Forthbank Stadium next time out.
Speaking to RangersTV after the match, Thomson commented: “We took the game primarily because our next opponent is Stenhousemuir in the cup.
“We thought it would be a good test in preparation and it certainly turned out that way.
“It’s important when we’re talking about the development of these young players that we were playing against a proper men’s team tonight.
“It’s a bit of a difference from playing academy football because we’re playing against men who are wanting to win and are streetwise in their approach.
“We’re in a period of the season where there are a lot of younger players playing well and training.
“They’re definitely pushing older ones for positions on the pitch. You see Lewis Stewart come on and have a contribution, as well as Callum Burnside, and these guys will be looking to feature in the Stenhousemuir game.
“It’s a great exercise for us looking towards the Stenhousemuir game and we want to go as far as we can in the competition.
“We know you need to win at Rangers and that’s what we’re looking to do come next week.”
The Light Blues fell behind twice in the contest, but they were grateful for the contribution of Lowry who netted from 12 yards in the first half and dug out an impressive leveller with two minutes remaining in the second period.
It was a stern test for the young Gers against a League Two side and Thomson believes the side will be better for the 90 minutes.
He added: “The problem that we created for ourselves is that we never quite kept hold of the ball.
“The message in the second half was certainly to build the attack and create chances; keep the ball around their penalty box and be patient.
“We spoke in the first half about getting runs against the backline to then create options to play, but we showed good character tonight and there was good passion.
“We pride ourselves on the preparation we do during the week ahead of these games.
“We never won the game and that’s something that we definitely wanted to do tonight.
“It didn’t pan out and, through our mistakes, we lost two goals in the first half.
“What really came through was the determination and the character to keep going at it.
“The substitutions that we made in the game certainly created the opportunity to get the equaliser.”