Rangers interim boss Graeme Murty has underlined the importance of the Gers youngsters and fringe players getting some minutes under their belt against Berwick Rangers in Steven Notman’s testimonial.

It is the second friendly game Rangers will play during the international break, with the Light Blues arranging a behind closed doors match against Manchester United Under-23s last week.




Besides playing first team regulars, Rangers also fielded several fringe players and youngsters in the game against the young Red Devils.

And Murty explained that it is vitally important for the fringe players and the youngsters to play against Berwick Rangers in order to be ready when called upon.
 


“I was a big believer as a player that I needed matches to be sharp”, he told Rangers TV.

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“You can train as much as you want, but I believed I was better as soon as I played a game.

“There will be players going to Berwick and JJ [Jonatan Johansson] and I will go there as well, because once again, they need minutes and they need to be ready.”

Murty went on to add that the Berwick Rangers game will provide an opportunity for his charges to give him a selection headache, ahead of Rangers’ Scottish Premiership meeting with Hamilton Academical on Saturday.

“If at any point we need to call upon a player, who hasn’t started many games, I need to know if physically they are in condition, their touches are right and tactically they are in the right mould and they play the football that I like”, he continued.

“It’s no good actually to come in and change certain things in the first team and then having guys who have never practised that methodology, dropping them into the first team and then expecting them to do well and then judging them.

“It’s not fair, it’s not fair on the player.

“You have to actually expose them and get them familiar with it so that when they come in, they have a chance to shine.

“So, there will be people going to Berwick, not as a punishment as footballers sometimes see it that way, but as an opportunity to getting sharp, getting fit and giving me a [selection] heachache.”

Rangers headed into the international break on the back of a 3-0 win over Partick Thistle at Ibrox.