STEVEN SMITH has praised Rangers Under-18s' character as the young Gers secured their place in the Scottish Youth Cup final with a penalty shootout victory.
There was nothing to separate the Gers and Dundee United at the end of regulation time, with the home side showing tremendous poise in the spot-kicks to book a fourth successive Hampden showdown.
Findlay Curtis provided the winning moment from 12 yards, but Smith was keen to emphasise that it was a squad effort which got his side over the line.
Speaking to RangersTV, the Gers Under-18s head coach said: "I always feel sorry for the team who loses it on penalties because it's a horrible way to lose a game.
"But I thought we thoroughly deserved to be in the final, especially on the basis of the second half.
"I thought we played okay in the first half without hurting them in their penalty box, but we created really good chances to go and win the game in the second half.
"Half-time was interesting because it can be quite deflating when they lose the goal right before.
"We probably played with a bit of nerves, which is understandable given the occasion that it is, so it was just about settling them down and reminding them that, in my opinion, they were the better team in the first half.
"We knew through time that we had the quality to hurt them, and I thought we done that.
"But credit to them, they defended their penalty box and their goalkeeper made good saves [in the second half]. We then showed character and resilience in the penalty shootout to go and win it."
The young Gers were also singing the praises of goalkeeper Mason Munn who denied the visitors twice in the shootout to give Rangers the advantage.
Rangers can now look forward to next month's cup final at the national stadium, although Smith says he won't allow his players' focus to wander in the meantime.
He added: "There's a lot of pressure in that moment on Findlay, but I fancied him. I also thought that Mason, knowing how he is and how he acts as a goalkeeper, would pull off big saves, and he done what we expected him to do.
"It's an opportunity for the players, but it's also the same message from the Hearts game. We can enjoy tonight, but we have league games coming up.
"We're heading into the split and there's ten fixtures that allows us to go and achieve something in the league as well. That will be the priority."