Ally McCoist, the Rangers manager, told his players the performance they delivered to knock Motherwell out of the Scottish Communities League Cup last night had set the standard he will demand for the rest of the season.
Ibrox revelled in the 2-0 win which put Rangers into the quarter-final draw and the home fans taunted the Clydesdale Bank Premier League leaders, a reaction to the summer vote in which all the top-flight clubs rejected Rangers' application for membership and condemned them to the lower leagues. McCoist refused to join in the point scoring but eagerly embraced the victory, secured by second-half goals from Lee McCulloch and Dean Shiels.
After embarrassments against Peterhead, Berwick Rangers, Annan Athletic and Queen of the South, Rangers reserved their best display of the season so far for the strongest opposition they have faced. "I just wanted to win the game and progress into the next round of the cup," said McCoist.
"It's a wee indicator to themselves and indeed the support that we can certainly play against teams from higher up the divisions. But we can't get carried away, it's a very small step in what's going to be a long, long road. I make no apologies for telling the supporters that: we've got miles and miles to go."
Rangers are certain to face Premier League opposition – including possibly Celtic – in the quarter-final draw, a date for which has still to be set. "An Old Firm game would create a massive amount of interest," conceded McCoist. "Now we're going up to Forres on Saturday [in the William Hill Scottish Cup]. We know there will be a big difference on Saturday compared to tonight. As good as this result was I just hope the players can look at the reasons for their performance and their victory.
"Everyone had been looking forward to tonight's tie since it was drawn, the supporters and a lot of Scottish football because it was the first time we had come up against a team from the top league. That in itself created a massive amount of interest. Look at the size of the crowd again, to get 30,000 when the game was live on television was nothing short of remarkable. But Saturday is a completely different game."
Francisco Sandaza will miss the Forres tie after going to hospital for an x-ray last night, having gone off after a first half clash of heads with Shaun Hutchinson.
Stuart McCall, the Motherwell manager, was predictably deflated by his side's desperately disappointing display. "If you ask anyone who's watched Rangers this season they have never played anything like as well as that," he said. "That was always going to be the case, it was their biggest game, an SPL club coming. But for as good and hungry as Rangers were, I look at my side and we lost too many individual battles. No-one of them can be proud of their performance.
"As soon as the first goal went in you could sense the crowd lifted and their players seemed to find an extra yard. You would have to give credit to the Rangers supporters, they got behind their team."
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