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Giovanni van Bronckhorst was pleased to give Aaron Ramsey his first Rangers start in their 3-0 Scottish Cup win against Annan Athletic at Galabank.
The on-loan Juventus midfielder had made two substitute appearances before the fifth-round tie against the League Two outfit and, in a totally-changed visiting side, he came through an hour before being replaced by Alex Lowry.
By then, goals from fit-again defender Filip Helander and attackers Kemar Roofe and Fashion Sakala had the Light Blues in control with the 31-year-old Wales international knocking the ball in the net before the break only to see the offside flag up.
Ahead of the Europa League tie away to Borussia Dortmund on Thursday, van Bronckhorst told Premier Sports: “You can see that Aaron wants to play football and enjoy it. You could see that in the first half.
“He was asking for the ball and tried to find openings. He scored a goal, but was offside.
“He looked really lively so I’m happy for him to play for an hour.
“I’m also pleased for Helander to come back and (Steven) Davis to get more minutes.
“We played some youngsters at the end and Mateusz (Zukowski) had a really good debut as well.”
Ramsey was glad to get the chance to increase his fitness, saying: “It was very important for me because it was my first start in a long time.
“I was always going to be a little bit rusty but I’m glad I got 60 minutes in the legs again. I’m feeling good.
“I’m building everything week by week and hopefully I can start more regularly and help the team. I’m glad to be here and enjoying my football again.”
Despite changing the whole starting 11 from the side which beat Hibs in midweek it was a professional performance from the Scottish champions to take them into Monday night’s draw.
Van Bronckhorst said: “We wanted to start really well and if you play well from the beginning you can decide the match, which we did in the first half.
“The circumstances weren’t great with the wind and the rain but I’m happy with the result and the players who got minutes today.
“We’re in the next round with no injuries so it was a good day for us.”
Annan boss Peter Murphy admitted his players were like “rabbits caught in the headlights” at the start of the game before a half-time pep-talk saw improvement in the second half.
He said: “They were maybe awestruck at the pace of the game.
“We didn’t pass like I’d asked. By the time we’d settled after 25 minutes we were 2-0 down.
“I had a bit of a go at them a half-time. I’m having a go at my players against the Scottish champions and that’s how much I expect from them.
“I asked them to get on the ball, to pass and to give options and not to shirk away.
“First half we went too long too early but second half we showed up and I was pleased with the response.”
With tongue in his cheek, Murphy recalled his pre-match prediction: “I said Rangers would have failed if they didn’t score four or five so they’ve failed – but obviously we’ve lost the game.”
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