MARK Warburton declared his Rangers side ready for the challenge of their first trip to Pittodrie for five years after they made short work of Ladbrokes Championship leaders Queen of the South to book their place in the last four of the BetFred Cup.
The Ibrox side ignored the ongoing furore over Joey Barton - who is suspended for three weeks and facing an SFA probe into alleged breaches of rules on football betting - as they racked up a 5-0 victory against the Doonhamers.
They joined Morton in the semi-finals of this competition, with Celtic facing Alloa Athletic, and Aberdeen meeting St Johnstone to reach that stage too, but for now all the focus is on the first trip to Pittodrie since a 2-1 win back in October 2011.
“We want to win it and are in the hat for the semi-final at Hampden," said Warburton. " We will have to prepare for that when the game comes around but right now the only focus is on Aberdeen.
Read more: Stewart Fisher: Joey Barton's apparent Old Firm transfer battle is nothing new
“The players hav e been outstanding, all credit to them," he added. "They’ve worked really hard and we’re looking forward to what will now be a tough game on Sunday but we’re relishing that challenge. It has been five years since we have been up there. The fans are looking forward to it and so are the players.
“That’s why players come to Rangers," he added. "They want to play in these type of games. It will be a 20,000 sell out and an intimidating atmosphere and they will enjoy that. But we have momentum and we have also trained well. Performances are a consequence of training. It filters through the squad and breeds confidence and self-belief so we are looking forward to the trip north."
Special praise was reserved last night for Andy Halliday, who captained the side in the absence of Lee Wallace. While Jason Holt got things up and running with the first goal on the night, and Martyn Waghorn fired a second-half hat-trick, Halliday marked a fine individual performance with a goal. It was a special moment for the midfielder, who reportedly had a disagreement with Barton in the wake of the 5-1 Old Firm defeat, but he will return the captain's armband to Wallace on Sunday.
“He is rangers through and through, everyone knows that," said Warburton. "I thought he led by example and delivered on the pitch.
It was a pleasing night’s work," he added. "We made some changes, Harry Forrester and Michael O’Halloran came in on the wide areas and Lee Hodson came in and Niko Kranjcar came back.
“We asked them to dominate the football in the first half and we did that completely. The only complaint from us as a group is that it was 1-0 at half-time and it could have been more. We were a bit sloppy in the first 10 minutes of the second half in terms of keeping the football and maintaining our shape but then I thought we were very good.
“We scored goals but missed a lot of chances as well. The only different from Saturday was that we were a little bit more clinical and it helps build momentum. I’m pleased for Waggy but it’s a team performance. The movement of Harry was good and Niko got better as the game went on in terms of finding clever passes."
The only negative on the night were hamstring strains picked up by Josh Windass and Jason Holt, the first coming as early as the warm up, although the manager insisted both substituions were precautionary. “Josh Windass had a bit of tightness in his hamstring and we didn’t want to risk it and it was the same with Jason Holt who had a little bit of a tight quad at half-time and it’s better to be safe than sorry," said Warburton. "It’s a long season - big games ahead - so although we have good quality in the squad we need to keep it as fully fit as possible."
The Englishman kept his counsel on the Barton situation other than to insist that his players had been well warned about the dangers of betting on football in Scotland. “The players north and south of the border know the situation," said Warburton. "There is a zero tolerance policy and that has been made very clear to them."
Queen of the South manager Gavin Skelton, whose side top the Championship table, said his side hadn't performed on the night but remained upbeat ahead of their top-of-the-table meeting with Hibs on Saturday. "We didn’t play as well as we can in the first half," said Skelton. "We started the second half quite well but, as everyone says, goals change games. We will reflect on this, myself included, but we have a massive game on Saturday and we are really looking forward to it."
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