McCoist wary of Motherwell

Rangers manager Ally McCoist has urged his players to rise to the occasion when they host Motherwell in the Scottish Communities League Cup.

The Light Blues head into Wednesday's third-round tie on the back of a 4-1 win over Montrose in the Irn-Bru Third Division on Sunday.

But they are set to face their toughest test of the campaign so far against Scottish Premier League leaders Motherwell in what will be their first meeting with top-flight opposition since being voted into Scottish football's bottom tier in the summer.

McCoist said: "We are up against arguably the in-form team in the SPL at the moment. They are a handful. They gave us some really tough games when we had [Nikica] Jelavic and [Allan] McGregor and [Steven] Naismith and we were a team who were winning the SPL.

"They gave us tough games then so we are in for a tough game on Wednesday.

"I would have to say that I think and hope the occasion would bring out the best in us as well.

"But Motherwell, as they have been for the last period of time under Stuart McCall, are very well organised, confident, aggressive and more than capable of beating anybody in the country."

Rangers were given a slight scare against Montrose when Dean Shiels' opener was cancelled out by an Anestis Argyriou own goal.

But goals from Lewis Macleod, Lee McCulloch and Robbie Crawford ensured a comfortable win in the end.

McCoist said: "We got a good reaction in the second half.

"We huffed and puffed a bit in the first half and we didn't step on from a really well-taken goal by Dean Shiels.

"I was hoping to get a better response from that goal to kick on with but we didn't get it. We lost a very poor goal defensively.

"We asked the lads for a reaction in the second half and I thought the increase in tempo and quality of passing and movement was really evident.

"It made for a vast improvement from our team in the second half."

The strikes from Macleod and Crawford were their first goals for Rangers and there was also an impressive debut from another youngster Fraser Aird.

McCoist added: "It's really important that the kids get an opportunity.

"We have to get out of the division and we must win but, if we are going to get the chance to rebuild, now would be an ideal time to blood the youngsters.

"We are asking these guys to come in and do men's jobs and, at this moment in time, they are doing it really well. These kids have been fabulous so far.

"We don't want to put too much pressure on them but they are certainly exciting myself and they are great to work with."