RYAN Porteous has revealed how getting lumps kicked out of him playing for part-time Edinburgh City in Ladbrokes League Two last season helped him to cope with starting for Hibernian against Rangers in front of nearly 50,000 fans at Ibrox.

Porteous was called on to play against Graeme Murty’s men on Saturday by his manager Neil Lennon after both Paul Hanlon and Darren McGregor suffered knocks in the Premiership win over Motherwell at Easter Road three days earlier.

But the 18-year-old rose to the challenge of facing first Alfredo Morelos, the Columbian striker who was the subject of an £8 million bid from Chinese club Beijing Renhe last week, and then Jason Cummings, his former Hibs team mate, brilliantly and produced a performance which belied his tender years.

The promising centre half revealed afterwards that having Efe Ambrose and Lewis Stevenson alongside him in the Hibs defence and Scott Allan in front of him in midfield had enabled him to cope with the occasion and help his team record their second win at Ibrox this term.

Porteous also admitted that being loaned out to City, who play in the bottom tier of Scottish football, during the 2016/17 campaign had opened his eyes to the harsh realities of the senior game and proved invaluable as he squared up to first Morelos and then Cummings.

“When Darren and Paul came in from the game on Wednesday with knocks, there was maybe the chance I would be starting,” he said. “The gaffer told me to be ready. But all season I’ve tried to be ready when called upon. I only had a couple of days to think about it and I didn’t get a great sleep the night before, but it was a good experience.

“In the first 15 minutes I was trying to find my feet, but players like Efe and Lewis made it easy for me and we had attacking players like Scott, who walked into the team and made the job easy for me.

“I just tried to treat it like a development game. I tried not to be distracted by how good anyone was I just tried to play my normal game. It was good to get playing for the first team. I’ve come off the bench a couple of times and played a lot of games on loan last season, so it was good to just get back on the pitch."

Porteous added: “I was at Edinburgh City all last season, playing up against big 6ft 4in strikers every week. They’d punch you, kick you, do everything in their locker to try to distract you, but it was a good experience for me. It toughened me up.

“Everybody in League Two was a bit stronger than me - I was only 17 years old - and Gary Jardine, the Edinburgh City manager, put a lot of faith in me and trusted me so I think it was worthwhile.

“The manager here’s given all the young boys a massive chance to play and shown a lot of faith in us and we’ve got to pay him back. On Saturday we did that.”

Porteous revealed that his former Hibs team mate Cummings, who has joined Rangers on loan from Nottingham Forest until the end of the season and came on for Jason Holt with 20 minutes remaining on Saturday, had tried to pysche him out during the game.

“He was eyeing me up from the sidelines," he said. "I told him to get on so I could kick him. I know how to play him - show him onto his right foot! Seriously, though, I’d never go out to hurt him. I just won a couple of headers and maybe caught him on the back of the head, but there was nothing in it.”

Porteous predicted he would return to the Hibs bench when Hanlon and McGregor regained full fitness, but he admitted that he hoped he had made his manager’s task selecting the side more difficult.

“We’ve got Darren, Paul, Efe - they are all brilliant,” he said. “We have one of the best defences in Scotland I’d say so it will be hard to push them out of the way. It’s just one performance, but if I’ve given him food for thought, that’s good.

“I’ve got four years left here and there’s nowhere else I want to play my football. I just hope to get more starts and more games under my belt. But I’ll be back in with the development team, training on Monday. Nothing changes.”