Graeme Murty praises Rangers response to reach Scottish Cup quarter-finals

Posted Monday, February 12, 2018 by PA

Graeme Murty praised his Rangers side after they responded in fine fashion to an early scare against Ayr United to romp to a 6-1 William Hill Scottish Cup fifth-round win.

Alan Forrest, brother of Celtic winger James Forrest, took advantage of a mistake by Gers goalkeeper Wed Foderingham in the 10th minute to give the League One side a shock lead.

However, amid snow flurries at Somerset Park, returning striker Alfredo Morelos levelled on the half-hour mark and the Ladbrokes Premiership side were ruthless after the break.

Jason Cummings struck from close range in the 65th minute before a double from attacker Josh Windass, either side of Morelos’ second, preceded a last-minute counter from Jamie Murphy – his first in a Gers shirt since signing on loan from Brighton.

Murty acknowledged the fright the League One side had given Rangers at the start of the match but said: “I thought we showed good patience and character.

“Those are the things, allied to the weather and the crowd, that can make you freeze as a footballer, make you push a little too hard.

“But we kept our discipline and composure well.

“We scored the goals when we needed to score them. We’ve had games previously when we haven’t scored when we’ve been on top.

“We managed to do that today which allays a few fears for the players.”

Murty believes there is more to come from his side.

He said: “I would say parts of it were as well as we’ve played but I still think we can get better in our basics and fundamentals.

“Some of our play is exhilarating as a coach. You see the tempo we move the ball at, the quality we have in the side.

“I was going to give Jamie Murphy a load of stick because the only thing missing from his game was a goal.

“He was outstanding. He gives us understanding, quality and incredible work rate even though he’s not fully fit yet. There’s more to come from him and the squad.”

Ayr boss Ian McCall missed the match – after undergoing an operation for a detached retina on Tuesday – leaving assistant manager Neil Scally in charge and he claimed the scoreline was hard on his players.

“I think 6-1 probably flattered Rangers,” he said.

“I don’t think it was a 6-1 game so it was quite sore to take given the fact the majority of goals were scored in the last 20 minutes.

“It was a perfect start for us and – although we rode our luck a couple of times in the first half – I thought we shaped up quite well.

“They were causing us problems down the right-hand side which we seemed to resolve in the last five or 10 minutes and then I thought we started the second half well.

“We were still in the game up until 65/70 minutes and then Rangers got their second goal and after that it obviously wasn’t great from our side.”