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Good luck to Steven Smith’s Rangers Academy side who face Celtic in the Glasgow Cup Final at Firhill this evening.
Goals from Paul Nsio, Cole McKinnon and a late strike from Zak Lovelace earned the Light Blues a terrific 3-2 win in last December’s Final and Smith is hoping his young team can earn another victory tonight.
Speaking ahead of the match, he told www.rangers.co.uk: “I’m expecting a tough game, the players are obviously excited because it is a cup final and a chance to win a trophy, but they also know it is going to be tough.
“They are going to need to turn up and perform and hopefully that bit of luck you need in a cup final goes our way as well.
“In this season’s competition we have gone a wee bit younger, which if I am being honest, I quite enjoy.
“We need to challenge the players at an earlier stage if we want to get them ready for the first-team quicker, so for me it is a good thing.
“The expectation doesn’t change whether they are 16-years-old or 26-years-old, the expectation is to go and win regardless of what Celtic team is there or what age they are.
“I’ve been involved in three games in this competition, and it has been good, the games feel real. When you add in experienced players, whether it is opposition, or you get one or two more experienced players in the squad it makes a difference.
“Even boys like Findlay Curtis and Paul Nsio, they are not relatively experienced, but they are training with the first-team and they are training with men, and I think that makes the environment feel more real.
“That expectation you try and put on them in the under-18 league probably isn’t the same as when you are playing against men, and that demand comes from the dressing room.
“We just have to prepare for a Celtic team, they are quite clear in terms of their style and how they play so tactically I don’t think they’ll do anything we don’t expect but personnel that is obviously up to them and what age and stage they are at.”
“Whether you are holders or not, there is still the same expectation and same aim which is to win it. I think the players enjoyed it when they won it last year so to have that winning feeling is obviously a good thing and they want to keep that.”
The match will be available to watch live on RangersTV and Premier Sports with a 7pm kick-off.
Please note there is no public sale of tickets for the game.
Youth development is assisted by annual RYDC donations to the Rangers Academy and more than £12 million has already been provided.
Profit from our online store and products like Rangers Lotto, Stadium Bricks and The Union Jackpot draw all go to the Academy, while profit from Museum Lotto is donated to the club for the upkeep and maintenance of the Rangers Museum.
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