Negri back to remedy Advocaat's striking ills

Morton veteran Andy Millen, still the complete professional and, incidentally, one of Morton's better players in this Scottish Cup tie, talked more sense than anyone at the end of the 90 minutes.

It had not been the best of games for Rangers and much more had been expected from the holders of the trophy against their first division opponents, whose main priority this season is attempting to reach a respectable league position rather than enjoy their 15 minutes of fame with a shock result in the cup.

Millen, who had suffered once at Ibrox when Hibs lost seven goals there, pointed out: ''It was always going to be very difficult for Rangers because in these games the smaller team is always going to get most of the praise, no matter what happens.

''Our main aim had to be to defend against them and to get men back behind the ball - and we did do that. In fact, when you look back at the game, Ally Maxwell had only two saves to make, one of which was a really great stop, but we did contain them and limit their scoring chances. What we have to do now is to take that back into the first division games and lift the team up the league.

''The result will give us all a boost, too, because we did hold them to 1-0. Of course, all the pressure was on them, and we knew that would be the case beforehand, but we can take heart from this.''

On the comeback of Marco Negri as a late Rangers substitute, Millen commented: ''I am sure that Negri will be happy to be back in the team and he would be happy, too, with the reception he received from the Rangers supporters. We all know what he did when he first arrived and I am sure that he will want to get back to that. He is a good player and I am sure he wants to show that again for his club.''

Negri's appearance was a surprise to the Ibrox support at Love Street but, afterwards, coach Dick Advocaat said: ''He played for 60 minutes at Aberdeen this week, he has been working hard in training, and he will be playing again here next week for the reserve team. We know he is a quality player and even in the 15 minutes he was on the field, you could see that. His attitude has been good and what he needs is training and more games to get him back fully fit. He is not l00 per cent yet but he is getting there and then we shall see what happens.

''Everyone is fighting for a position up front and that is good for the club.''

Negri had been missing from the Ibrox first team for almost two years and he admitted afterwards: ''I am still getting back to fitness but I feel better all the time and now I want to get back into the first team.''

The ovation given to the mean and moody Italian front man by the fans may have come about as much from anticipation that he could help end the temporary striking crisis which has hit their team than anything else.

Michael Mols will not be back this season, while Jonatan Johansson has been another long-term injury victim, and Billy Dodds, the #1.3m buy who was brought in to ease the worries is also receiving treatment. At the weekend, the other comeback man, Sebastian Rozental, was ineligible for the cup match but should make his first team return against Dundee at Dens Park next weekend.

The Rangers strike force could not even claim credit for the goal against Morton when it arrived soon after half-time. It was a Rod Wallace header from a Neil McCann cross that appeared to cross the line but then central defender Craig Moore made certain with a tap-in finish and later claimed the goal.

The Australian grinned: ''I thought the ball was over and all I did was make sure but if I am getting the credit, then I'll take it because I don't score all that many goals during a season.''

Television evidence suggested later that the Wallace header had crossed the line after hitting the inside of the post and it also ended claims from Morton manager Ian McCall that the strike had been offside.

''I'm not going to make any apologies for the way we played today,'' he said afterwards. ''I was very proud of the way the players handled things out there, especially the defenders. I don't have a hundred million pounds to spend and so we have to do what we can in this kind of game.

''What we did was hold one of the best teams in Europe to a 1-0 scoreline and that tells its own story. They didn't get too many chances and Ally Maxwell only had a couple of saves to make, so that suggests we did our job well.''

Advocaat responded: ''Morton wanted to take the game back to Ibrox. That is how they played and I understand that. Everyone expected Rangers to win but we knew that it was not going to be an easy game. I thought that we could get more goals but we scored in the second half and that was enough.''

The Dutchman, though, must be concerned at the lack of firepower from his forwards and will also be worried over the injuries that have now affected his defence, with the looming suspension of Craig Moore necessitating further changes at the back.

He opted to use Barry Ferguson in a front sweeper role against Morton with Moore operating behind him. In the second half, Ferguson moved forward and the Turkish inter-nationalist, Tugay, took over the deeper role.

It was also his first appearance from the start of a game and afterwards he admitted: ''I enjoyed that. It is important for me to begin a game and it will be important for me to stay in the team. I will play for Turkey against Norway in Istanbul this week and if I am going to the European Championship finals with my country, then I want to play first-team football regularly.

''It was a hard game but we deserved to score and to go into the next round.''