STEVIE SMITH believes his young players will benefit hugely from the experience of playing against senior sides in the KDM Evolution Trophy this season.
The Gers kick off their league phase campaign with a trip to face Stenhousemuir this evening, a side which they have faced three years running in the competition.
Speaking to the official Rangers website, he said of the challenge: “It’s what the players need.
“I speak about the senior players in the Under-19s and they definitely need [the experience of playing against men]. The younger players – the 2008-born players – are probably in the same bracket.
“The 2007-born players who will be out on loan will play for us, which is good because I still believe they need to play for us in our style and in front of the manager to see what they’re capable of.
“It’s part of the experience that they’ll probably play in a different style for their loan clubs, but we still need to see them play in our style.
“I’m glad they’ll be involved with us, but over the piece that age group has proved to me that they’re ready to go and play against men. I’m really looking forward to the competition.
“It’s all part of it, which is good. It’s a competition that I’m looking forward to in order to see how they handle it.”
The Under-19s group have relished the experience of playing against seasoned professionals in recent seasons and recently squared off against National League outfit Hartlepool United infront of a buoyant crowd in pre-season.
The squad recently competed at the NextGen Cup in Prague, Czech Republic against a host of elite academies and will now shift their attention back to domestic affairs against a strong League One outfit.
He added: “I’ve seen enough from the more senior players that I know they can handle it and they’ll stand up to it.
“Even the Hartlepool game, which was the first time we played together as a collective infront of that sort of crowd, they handled it how I would expect.
“They were probably more nervous than I had ever saw them in the warm-up, but as soon as the game started they found their feet in the game and I thought they were excellent.
“But we’ll be throwing younger players in as well, which is good because sometimes you need to be thrown in at the deep end to see how you handle it.
“It’s about trying to give them as much experience as we can at a younger age group so you’ll see a lot of those players in the competition.”
Kick-off at Ochilview Park this evening is 7:45pm, and you can buy your tickets here.
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