Alex Lowry admitted a dream came true when he scored a debut goal in Rangers’ 4-0 Scottish Cup fourth-round win over Stirling Albion at Ibrox.
The 18-year-old midfielder replaced injured Ianis Hagi after 12 minutes of the tie and gave the home fans a glimpse of the future in the 31st minute with a well-taken finish.
Skipper James Tavernier scored a penalty and then had one saved by Binos keeper Blair Currie, before second-half goals from striker Cedric Itten and Fashion Sakala confirmed a place in the next round for the Scottish champions.
Lowry told Premier Sports: “It’s a dream come true. I have been here since I was 10 and scoring out there was just a dream. I never expected the opportunity tonight.
“As soon as Ianis went down I thought I might get something. When I got called over I was just buzzing.
“There were a bit of nerves coming on, but when I started to relax I thought I did not too bad – a couple of sloppy moments, but I can work on them on the training ground.”
Gers boss Giovanni Van Bronckhorst hailed the teenager, saying: “He’s still a young player with many things to improve, but if you see this game he is at a good level already.
“I’m happy for him to make his debut and I’m ready to develop him even further.
“You want to give academy players a pathway to the first team. Of course, if I put him in it’s because I have trust in him and his abilities.
“When he is performing like this, of course he makes his manager very proud.
“Not only me, but the club and the academy. I think they are providing us with some good talents and hopefully he can continue his development.”
On Hagi’s injury, Van Bronckhorst said: “He’s okay. He has some problems, so we have to wait until tomorrow to see what he actually has.”
Binos boss Darren Young was pleased by the way his side stuck to their task and hopes they can take the positive parts of their performance into their cinch League Two campaign.
He said: “The players are gutted but happy with certain aspects of how they played.
“You could see the quality, class and pace of Rangers and as soon as they get into those kinds of areas they are a bit more ruthless and kill you off and they did that tonight.
“We probably played more defensively, but you would expect that against a team like Rangers and we can use that.
“I was really happy with the talking, the way they were helping each other out and the way they were organising.
“So if they can take that on board and be a bit more attack-minded when we are playing teams in our own league, I’m looking forward to that.”
