Murty praises nextgen for goodshow in Porto

GRAEME MURTY hopes his Rangers kids will reap the rewards of a trip to the continent after going head-to-head with Porto.

The Light Blues Under-20 boss took his side to Portugal last week for a friendly test against some of the brightest young talents in the Dragões ranks.

As part of his strategy to produce the next generation of Ibrox stars, Head of Academy Craig Mulholland is keen to see Rangers test themselves at all age levels by facing their counterparts from across the world.

Murty has promoted a number of players through the ranks to his 20s squad in the Development League this term.

And he was pleased with how his side fared against the up-and-coming talents from one of the most respected youth setups in the game despite a 3-1 defeat.

Murty told rangers.co.uk: “It was one designed to get them out of their comfort zone, in essence, to get them into a different environment, to get them dealing with people who play a different style of football, but also to make sure we had them under our control, our auspices and our view in a different environment and give them challenges.

“I have to say, they rose to the challenges extremely well, and once again, I think we can take Rangers footballers anywhere in the world and be proud not only with the way they play, but their conduct around the place as well, which was exceptional.

“They can get a lot of confidence from the fact they stood up so well to the challenge and played some very good football at times.

“It’s no surprise to us that Porto finished with their best Under-19s on the pitch to try and cope while we finished with mostly our Under-17s playing the game.

“We had people like Cammy Palmer, Rhys Breen, Lewis Mayo, Stephen Kelly and Matthew Shiels who haven’t played a lot of 20s football.

“But we took them as well to make sure they are integrated with our group, and that they know the standards and the requirements of the group, and they really stood up to the challenge really well.”