RANGERS B made it four wins on the spin this afternoon as they stormed to a 5-3 victory over Derby County.
The young Gers were boosted by the contribution of Ianis Hagi who chipped in with a hat-trick, while there were also goalscoring contributions from Archie Stevens and Alex Lowry who bookended the Romanian’s goals.
And the triumph tees the Light Blues up nicely for Wednesday evening, where they will make the trip to New Douglas Park to take on Clyde in the second round of the SPFL Trust Trophy.
The Gers lined up with a mix of youth and relative experience, with Hagi given the nod in midfield behind Findlay Curtis, eight years his junior.
Rampant would best describe the home side’s start to the contest as, inside a quarter of an hour, a sweeping move engineered the opening goal.
Kerr Robertson lifted his head in midfield and switched the point of attack to Stevens on the right-hand side, whose first touch took him inside the penalty area and afforded him sufficient time and space to lash an unstoppable strike beyond the Derby goalkeeper.
Rangers had their tails up as a result, doubling their advantage shortly after when Cole McKinnon pounced on a loose pass in midfield before feeding Hagi who slammed home his finish.
McKinnon was almost involved in the scoring himself when a wicked delivery from Hagi was floated in his direction, but the midfielder could not produce a proper connection at full stretch.
Two soon became three for the Light Blues inside half an hour, however, with the Romanian midfielder both winning and dispatching a 25-yard free-kick which left Derby with it all to do in the contest.
The away side reduced the arrears before the half-time interval after a lapse in concentration, before the scoring resumed in the second period.
Adam Devine was the architect on this occasion, finding himself free in an advanced position on the right and floating a deep delivery to Hagi who rifled home a first-time volley into the bottom corner.
The scoring continued at a rate of knots as Derby halved the deficit from close-range.
And yet any jeopardy in the contest was erased with less than 20 minutes remaining when Paul Nsio’s slaloming run into the penalty area was halted illegally.
Indeed, substitute Zander Hutton stroked the loose ball into the back of the net, but the referee had already whistled for the spot-kick.
Lowry strode forward from 12 yards and confidently dispatched his spot-kick, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way to secure a much-deserved triumph for the Gers.
RANGERS B: Budinauckas, Devine, Allen (Webster, 67), Nsiala (Allan, 61), Fraser (Hutton, 45), Robertson, McKinnon (Grant, 75), Hagi (Nsio, 65), Stevens, Lowry, Curtis (Gentles, 61)
SUBS: Halliwell (GK)
DERBY COUNTY: Shattell, Bardell, Hawkins, Radcliffe, Bartley, Robinson, Stepien-Iwumene, Allen, Wheeldon, McAndrew, Spencer
SUBS: Perry, Rees, Ilesanmi, Moloney, Cox, Turley