Former Rangers and Scotland striker and BBC Sport pundit Billy Dodds was left raving over the cameo performance of young wing wizard Glenn Middleton during the Gers’ 2-0 win over FK Shkupi.
Goals from Jamie Murphy and James Tavernier secured the all important win in their Europa League qualifying clash at Ibrox, which marked Steven Gerrard’s first competitive game in management.
However, despite only being on the pitch for 11 minutes after coming off the bench, Dodds was mightily impressed with what he saw from the 18-year-old forward, insisting he provided more to the side than his experienced team mates, who he took aim at in his verdict.
He told BBC programme Sportsound, as quoted on the live text coverage on the website (12/07, 21:56): “Glenn Middleton really set the game alight when he came on, he really asked questions of the Shkupi defence.
“Not enough Rangers players did that. Josh Windass wasn’t at his best, Alfredo Morelos was rusty, Daniel Candeias was taken off.
“They weren’t at their best, they were rusty, but they got the job done and they will be glad of that second goal.”
Opinion
There are some seriously high hopes for Middleton’s future and it is great to see him being handed the necessary game time for his development by Gerrard, even in games as crucially important as the Europa League clash. If the youngster can continue to impress in the way he did at Ibrox on Thursday night, then he is only going to be set for more playing time as the season progresses. A lot has been made of the signings that Gerrard has made over the last month or so, but it could be Middleton’s emergence as a first team option which makes the biggest difference, with his lack of fear or pressure to succeed allowing him to play his natural game. The Ibrox faithful would love to see him become a mainstay in the senior side, and with performances like this, they may well just get their wish sooner rather than later.