Middleton told: ‘Give him hell’

Glenn Middleton has revealed how Steven Gerrard sent him out for his first Rangers start with instructions to give Ayr “90 minutes of pure hell”.

Now the Ibrox teenager has begged to be let loose against Aberdeen so he can kick up another storm in the last four of the Betfred Cup.

The 18-year-old winger was given his full debut during Gers’ 4-0 quarter-final triumph over Ian McCall’s Ladbrokes Championship leaders and followed Gerrard’s orders as he bagged an impressive brace.

It has been quite a couple of weeks for the youngster, having also bagged his first Rangers goal against Dundee before climbing off the bench to spark his side’s Europa League revival in the 2-2 draw with Villarreal.

Middleton hopes to he has done enough to convince his manager he can switch from the wing to centre forward and replace suspended striker Alfredo Morelos and his cup-tied partner Kyle Lafferty, who will both sit out the showdown with Derek McInnes team next month.

“I’m really happy with the Ayr game,” he said.

“However, it’s not about me, it’s about the team and the objective was to get into the semi-finals.

“The manager just told me to give the right-back pure hell.

“I’m always going to go at someone – as that’s just what I do.”

He added: “I played as a striker when I was younger – it was my position and like any forward, I love scoring goals.

“It would mean everything to me to be involved (in the semifinal).

“I am as desperate as anyone to get this club back and win a trophy. But we will need to see what happens.

“We have a really good squad now and I think everyone can see that.

“We have got two or three top players in every position. So it’s up to us to give the best performance we can.”