IT remains to be seen what this Rangers team are capable of once they get up to full speed this season but their players didn’t have find third gear to see off Peterhead.

The hubristic approach taken by some of their supporters towards this campaign back in the top tier was somewhat curtailed by their home draw with Hamilton at the weekend and a win, even such a convincing one, against part-time opposition is hardly going to get the pulses racing.

However, the job was done with the minimum of fuss, a couple of new boys got their first starts for the club, some good football was played at times and Mark Warburton’s side are safely into the Betfred Cup quarter-finals. What else could he have asked for?

Read more: Mark Warburton hints at new Rangers signing as he hails cup displayThe Herald: Rangers manager Mark Warburton in training.

From what was a fairly straightforward evening at Ibrox, Jordan Rossiter’s attitude stood out. The Liverpudlian, who is only 19, buzzed about midfield from the first minute and while he will come up against tougher opposition, there was enough here to hint that he could be a player.

Niko Kranjcar scored his second for the club, and what a fine strike it was, and showed glimpses of what he could be about. Clint Hill got two of his own and there was never any fear of an upset. The Rangers manager would have been more than happy.

One player not here was Rangers captain Lee Wallace who came down with a bug which ended a run of 69 consecutive games in the side. He wasn’t missed.

Peterhead’s tactics were clear enough. Sit deep when not in possession, make lots of tackles, chase the ball all night and hope that something happened for them at the other end. They had two shots on target early on but those were the only highlights.

Rangers were slopping with their passing for the first 18 minutes, huffing and puffing a little, and then Kranjcar announced his arrival in Scottish football with a terrific goal. A long ball was taken down out of the air by Joe Dodoo, his Croatian team-mate fancied taking on a shot and so wrapped his foot around the ball which he sent into the top corner of the net from outside the box.The Herald: Niko Kranjcar (right) celebrates his goal with Joe Dodoo

Rangers’ next opportunity came on 29 minutes when the ball was passed by Michael O’Halloran to Joey Barton for Dodoo who got off a neat shot on the turn which was easily deal with by Graeme Smith.

Peterhead’s defence was cut up minutes later by lovely low pass from the impressive Rossiter, which found James Tavernier who had made one of his typical runs, and the right-back’s shot clipped the top off the crossbar.

The second for Rangers was just around the corner. Kranjcar’s delivery from a corner was exquisite, the ball fell at the feet of Hill, or between them to be exact, and he had enough awareness to readjust his stance and then poke the ball under Smith.

It was then a case of how many Rangers could be bothered to score.

The Peterhead goalkeeper made two saves from O’Halloran, both at close range, and then a superb tackle inside the penalty box by Fiacre Kelleher, on loan at Peterhead from Celtic, denied Dodoo just as his right foot was going to connect with the ball which surely would have resulted in a goal.

The second-half played out exactly was you would expect. Dodoo saw yet another shot saved by Smith minutes after the break, but Peterhead held out for only about another 60 seconds before a strong run and then cross from O’Halloran was turned into his own net by Kelleher.

And then out of nothing, and on 54 minutes, Blockley put in a horrible tackle on Barton, he was late and high, when there was absolutely no need. In fairness to Barton he got up right away and shook the hand of the Peterhead player as he was rightly sent off.

From that free-kick, Kranjcar produced another excellent cross and Smith, a real hero for Peterhead on the night, brought off another superb save to deny Rob Kiernan. Kranjcar got another chance to cross, this time from the corner, and Hill got to the ball first and even Smith wasn’t going to keep out his header from six yards.

Dodoo might have missed a few but he is a game lad, never stopped going and his reward came on 64 minutes when Tavernier did well to get to the ball near the touchline as it was about to go out, he sent in a low cross which the youngster tapped home from a few yards out.

There was still time for Smith to make another save, O'Halloran was left frustrated for a third time, and in the final minutes Peterhead's Rory McAllister attempted to score from 45 yards out before the visitors were put out of their misery.