A quick-fire first-half double from teenage winger Callum Gallagher and a brilliant piece of opportunism from Kenny Miller was enough to give Rangers a comfortable win against Buckie Thistle at Victoria Park last night.
Rangers trialist Marius Zaliukas was at Victoria Park but he wasn’t listed in the starting line-up or even among the 10 substitutes, Lee McCulloch and Kyle Hutton started but Miller was left on the bench.
The kick-off was delayed by 10 minutes to let the crowd in. When the whistle blew, around 2,200 supporters were inside the ground.
In the fourth minute it took a brilliant block with his legs by Jags goalkeeper Kevin Main to stop a ferocious 15-yard drive from Barrie McKay from giving Rangers the lead.
Nicky Clark had a half-chance for the visitors in the 20th minute but he skied his effort over the top from 15 yards.
At the other end Liam Baxter burst forward but he was crowded out by two Rangers defenders before he could pull the trigger.
In the 32th minute Rangers opened the scoring when Main failed to cut out a Stephen Smith cross and Gallagher was on hand to stab the ball over the line at the back post.
Two minutes later the Glasgow side doubled their advantage, McKay played in teenager Gallagher and he fired a 12-yard angled drive wide of the helpless Main for his second goal of the night.
Both teams made sweeping changes at half-time. Rangers brought on new signing, former Scotland forward Kenny Miller, as well as Ian Black and Lee Wallace.
Scotland international Wallace forced a fabulous flying tip-over from Jags substitute goalkeeper Daniel Bell early in the second half.
Dean Shiels had a chance to make it 3-0 to the visitors but his six-yard header flew wide of the target without troubling Bell.
In the 82nd minute Miller turned back the clock with a brilliant individual goal. He slalomed his way past a string of Jags’ defenders and nonchalantly slotted home his first goal for Rangers since 2010.