Rangers 3

Airdrie 0

Scorers: Rangers - Arveladze

(5, 37), Numan (90)

UNTIL now, perhaps only the Rangers physiotherapist could claim familiarity with the club's newest acquisitions, Michael Ball and Shota Arveladze, but their belated introduction to the first team was well worth the wait.

Injuries, sustained before signing in the case of Ball and prior to kicking a ball in earnest for his new club where Arveladze was concerned, delayed their debuts for over a month since they joined for a combined fee of around (pounds) 9m from Everton and Ajax respectively but the pair were central to this CIS Cup canter against Airdrie.

With two first-half goals - Arthur Numan completed a comprehensive victory in the final minute - Arveladze stole the show and, considering the effectiveness of his partnership with Claudio Caniggia, the two strikers demoted to the bench, Tore Andre Flo and Michael Mols, might have to wait patiently for a return to favour.

Ball's eagerly-anticipated return to fitness also gave Rangers a hitherto unavailable defensive balance, but the understandable optimism shown by the bulk of the supporters should be tempered by the fact that Airdrie offered little resistance until the match was beyond them.

With his side on a remarkable hot streak - their 16-match unbeaten run shooting them to the first division summit and the final of the Challenge Cup - it was hardly surprising that Ian McCall set out his Airdrie side in a considerably more adventurous formation than when he last came up against his old team, as manager of Morton.

He needn't have bothered.

The Greenock club having been dismissed along with their Lanarkshire rivals, Motherwell, in the earlier rounds of the competition, those Rangers fans in the 34,067 crowd who turned up for a most unglamorous match-up with Airdrie did so with some trepidation. Potentially, this was their Inverness Caley Thistle, the consequences of defeat perhaps similarly severe.

Such apprehension, however, was promptly dispelled when the Georgian converted his first kick of the ball after only four minutes' involvement. It was a sublime touch at that. Fernando Ricksen, playing in the holding role normally occupied by Barry Ferguson, poked the ball towards Claudio Caniggia and, despite the pass being a couple of feet short of perfection, the Argentine gathered and slid the ball out to Arveladze. With the briefest of goalward glances, he bent the ball around the groping left hand of Allan Ferguson using the outside of his left boot, immediately endearing himself to a new set of supporters.

The early indications sug- gested an instant rapport between Arveladze and Caniggia and their darting runs left the Diamonds distinctly dishevelled. He might have added another soon after but an ambition volley was smothered by the goalkeeper.

Caniggia made the most of his inclusion, too, testing Ferguson with two tasty thumps and upsetting Airdrie with his general nuisance value. At the other end, Ball took no time in settling in beside Craig Moore and Lorenzo Amoruso, the former Everton defender providing the kind of uncomplicated assurance the supporters so craved in an often eccentric last line. The first naturally left-sided central defender since John Brown hung up his ankle straps, the burly Ball shares Bomber's enthusiasm for a meaty mano a mano. He has no shortage of style and shooting power, either, as he demonstrated with a series of searching passes and the occasional piledriver.

Airdrie had little response to the relentless Rangers rampage and Owen Coyle, with 13 goals to his credit already this season, was infuriated by the lack of supply. Caniggia, by comparison, was having a field day. He tormented the Lurch-like Kevin James at every opportunity and set up Arveladze for the umpteenth time with a deft dunt which the Georgian drilled over in 25 minutes. Caniggia followed up with jink past James but his clipped effort was also margin-ally off target.

By now, the two were in exhibition mode and you could not help but feel embarrassed for their victims. If the second was inevitable, so, too, was the identity of the provider. A smart one-two between Ronald de Boer and Ricksen was charged down by Allan McManus but, surprise, surprise, Arveladze was hovering with intent in the penalty box and prodded past Ferguson.

Not to be outdone, Caniggia rode six challenges before run-ning out of puff and, despite looking aghast as the ball was returned to him by Ricksen, arrowed the ball to Arveladze, who controlled instantly and un-conventionally but was denied a half-time hat-trick by a post.

A roasting from McCall stirred Airdrie from their slumbers and they almost caught Rangers by surprise upon the restart. Mark Roberts found himself with only Stefan Klos to beat but his net-bound chip was cleared by Craig Moore and James' header from the resultant corner bounced off the bar.

With the match won, energy conservation became Rangers' objective and the coasting allowed Advocaat to grant a debut to 18-year-old midfielder Jimmy Gibson.

The second half, not unsurprisingly, failed to scale the heady heights of the opening 45 but Arveladze was afforded a standing ovation when he was replaced by Mols, while Numan put some sheen on the scoreline, with Caniggia again instrumental.

Rangers (3-4-3) Klos; Moore, Amoruso, Ball; Ricksen, Latapy, De Boer (Gibson 62), Numan; Caniggia, Arveladze (Mols 83), McCann (Vidmar 83). Subs: Christiansen, Flo

Airdrie (4-4-2) Ferguson; Armstrong, McManus, James, McPherson; Gardner

(C McDonald 66), McFarlane, Stewart

(Dunn 76), Smith (Taylor 39); Roberts, Coyle.

Subs: S McDonald, Bennett Booked McManus, Armstrong

Referee John Underhill