Rangers today face Queen of the South in the first of a series of pre-season friendlies today at 3pm at Palmerston Park. With the recent departure of Kevin Thomson and Kris Boyd, and other first squad players such as Novo and Beasley leaving for pastures new, Rangers may be looking to the younger members of the squad to step up to the plate and prove their worth.
With 5 players departed from the team who faced Queen of the South last September it is likely the team facing QoS will be a far different one than then, but Rangers can be assured the Doonhammers won’t allow Rangers to breeze to victory. Rangers had to score in extra-time in the 2008 Scottish Cup final to scrape a 3-2 win after a spirited performance by Queen of the South and they hardly made it easy in last season’s cup tie either.
Rangers last played the Doonhammers in the Quarter Finals of the Co-operative Insurance Cup last September and finished the game with a 2-1 win thanks to goals from ex-Ranger Nacho Novo and Steven Naismith before QoS scored a last minute consolation goal to deny Rangers a clean sheet. With no new signings, the first team fringe players and youth players will today have an early opportunity to prove their worth to manager Walter Smith.
