The B team boss took time to reflect on Tuesday’s away clash against Liverpool and insisted that his squad will put on a performance as they welcome them to Firhill next week for their European match.
Speaking exclusively to RangersTV following their tough test against Barry Lewtas’ side, he said: "We’ve just played a really good team; the consistency aspect was hard for us. We knew when we won the ball back, we wouldn’t have a lot of time to play, we had to be better at times, so we didn’t turn goals over so quickly.
"It was a tough afternoon but not one that we are not surprised the level of the game turned out how it was.
"We had two really good opportunities in Robbie’s [Ure] header and the one Zak [Lovelace] received, part of the frustration is that the goals that they scored came from two set plays. When you lose a goal, you become a bit frustrated at times and that can settle into a level of performance, we spoke about that at half time – we had to be brave on the ball.
"We come into these games in the Youth Champions League, and we know it’s going to be tough; we’ve hit a different level of performance in each of our three games now. Liverpool have been the toughest game, but we have to try and make sure we put up a performance that can get a better result next week."
Despite the result, McCallum emphasised the value of competing in the European tournament as the young Gers continue to face high level of oppositions in each match.
He took time to reflect on the individual performances of Jacob Pazikas and Bailey Rice from Tuesday afternoon’s game and reiterated the learning opportunities that they can take from these fixtures.
He added: "Jacob has come into this group as a younger one, he’s comfortable coming into these games and performed very well. I’m not surprised that he has done that, I’m pleased for him. That frustration can sometimes have an impact on decisions that we take, we need to learn from that because this game is coming again very quickly.
"We know that Bailey can handle the ball, he’s got a range of passing that helps us in terms of escaping from pressure. The level of intensity from the game is the bit that Bailey can try and strive to get up to because they can punish you very quickly."
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