PHILIPPE Clement heaped praise on his Rangers youngsters as they helped put on a five-star showing against Fraserburgh.
The Ibrox gaffer handed a senior debut to Northern Irish goalkeeper Mason Munn, with Clinton Nsiala and Zak Lovelace also starting against the Highland League side, before Findlay Curtis and Bailey Rice came off the bench.
Cyriel Dessers’ first Gers hat-trick, as well as goals from Ross McCausland and a stunner from Nsiala helped secure the Light Blues’ place in the next round of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup.
Clement was delighted for his young guns and believes they produced a mature display in the 5-0 victory.
Speaking to RangersTV, he said: “In general it was good. In the first half we should have scored more goals.
“It is normal when you have a lot of new players, young guys coming in, with their enthusiasm, so they miss some overview in their final decisions, but in the second half it was much better.
“We could have scored more than five - keeping a clean sheet as well, so it was a very positive afternoon.
“A lot of the academy players got to play at Ibrox in front of 36,000 supporters, when the game was live on TV, you see the support of the fans and that is good for the young guys to have an experience like that.
“Days like this are important and it is crucial as they need to step in at the right moment and the right level.
“Clinton did that in training these last few months and he has taken his chance.
“They need to push for that and it is good to get that experience and it was interesting to see how they coped with that.”
Dessers opened the scoring in the first half, before netting his second of the day just before the hour mark.
He thought he had notched a third only to see his header crash off the post, however he wasn’t to be denied as he rounded the keeper and slotted home in the closing stages.
The Nigerian international has had to settle for a place on the bench in recent weeks due to the form of Hamza Igamane.
But Clement praised the striker for his treble and says he is still an important part of the squad - especially going into Thursday’s Europa League clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford.
He added: “It proved his mentality, the way he has been working in the last few weeks when he has played less than before due to the rise of Hamza.
“Cyriel is a very good character in the dressing room who works hard and he got his reward for all of that hard work.
“In the next few days we will have some recovery time and then we will train before going to Manchester.
“We are in a very good position in the Europa League, but this is a huge challenge with some players out due to injuries and others not on the list.
“It is a challenge, but it is a nice one and we are going to go full to try and get the maximum points there.”