Pedro Caixinha has showered young Rangers defender Ross McCrorie with praise following his performance in the Gers' 3-1 Scottish League Cup quarter-final win against Partick Thistle on Tuesday night.
The contest at Firhill had to wait until the 55th minute to see its first goal, which came courtesy of Carlos Pena, who was making his first Rangers start.
The Mexican directed his header into the back of the net and it appeared it would be enough to send Rangers through until Kris Doolan popped up in the 90th minute to equalise for the hosts.
During the course of the 90 minutes Rangers lost Bruno Alves and Declan John to injury concerns, with Alves being replaced by McCrorie in the 76th minute.
The contest entered extra time and Daniel Candeias struck in the 94th minute, with then Eduardo Herrera getting on the scoresheet in the 99th minute as Partick Thistle were beaten 3-1.
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Caixinha said on BT Sport after the final whistle: "I really liked the performance, we created a lot of chances to win the game earlier."
And the Portuguese saluted McCrorie, who he says will be Scotland's future in central defence.
"We had to make four substitutions which shook the team a little bit", he said.
"But I think Lee [Hodson] and Ross did very well.
"I think that young boy [McCrorie] is going to be the future of this country at centre-half", the Rangers manager added.
