Rangers Vs Queens Park preview: incy wincy Spiders
- Adam Bortkiewicz
- Feb 9
- 3 min read
Morning everyone, Rangers are finally back in action against Queens Park in the Scottish cup, after a rare midweek off.
I rounded off our quiet deadline day on Twitter. There really wasn't much to report.
So we are left to play with the hand we've been dealt. There's some positive squad news in terms of Europe atleast. We're allowed to change 3 members of the squad so it is goodbye Kasanwirjo, Cortes and Dowell. Hello, Hagi, Danilo and Nsiala.
That signals a real improvement on the options we had previously. It's disappointing to see that Cortes may totally be out of the picture for the rest of the season. Especially when we are primed to spend around 4 million Euros on him in the summer.
Queens Park aren't a terrible team by any means, but the Spiders will have one eye trained on their league campaign. They are 7 points off the play-off places with a game in hand.
Under Callum Davidson, the Spiders have abandoned the footballing revolution signalled by the arrival of Willie Haughney a few years ago. The initial promise, after the appointment of Marijn Beuker as sporting director, faded once it was clear that the money promised to take the club into the top flight wasn't there. The Dutchman was poached by Ajax and that seems like the end of the recent rise of Queens Park.
They are a basic team that play direct football, they have a bit of a mish mashed squad with some experience sprinkled throughout in players like Louis Longridge and Sean Welsh. At the same time, the money invested in the academy has borne fruit with young players like Liam McLeish, Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia, and Zach Mauchin getting minutes.
Calum Ferrie is an excellent shot stopper, hopefully he will have his hands full today. Former Rangers Jack Thomson and Zak Rudden will feel like they have a point to prove against the club that let them go as youngsters.
Aside from that, there really isn't much to fear in the way of quality from today's opposition. Given that, it might be an opportunity to start Rafael Fernandes alongside the experience of Souttar or Propper. Given the injury record of the backline this season, I wouldn't bet against us calling on the Portuguese defender at some point, so it's better to blood him properly in games like today.
I want to see Bailey Rice start in midfield. He's looked bright in recent cameos and given that Lovelace was lured across the border (admittedly to the place/club he's from!) we need to show young players there's a path to the first team. If the manager can't trust him in a game like today, I could see a scenario when we are forced to call upon him with a few more midfield injuries. Then we would really see if he can sink or swim, so let's find out while we still have a life-ring on hand to throw him if needed.
Aside from that, hopefully there's minutes for Findlay Curtis or Paul Nsio. Given the subs in recent matches, I'd suggest the manager sees Nsio as being more "oven-ready" than Curtis. Tom Lawrence will need games for match sharpness, so I suspect he will get a half atleast.
Fixtures like today can be great fun, it won't be a walkover like the second half of the last round. But we should really be blowing Queens Park away, so hopefully that's reflected in the performance.
Have a good day everyone and enjoy the game if you're going.
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