Boyd still has a key role here, says boss
STUART McCALL last night explained the exclusion of Kris Boyd from his match-day squad for the second game in succession as Rangers ran out 4-1 winners without the former Scotland hitman.
The Rangers boss stressed there was ‘no problem’ with Boyd, who trained at Murray Park with Ian Durrant’s Under20 squad on the morning of the first team’s Championship contest against Cowdenbeath.
Boyd has not featured since being hauled off after 69 minutes of the home draw with Alloa and Jon Daly was the strike option on the bench at Ibrox yesterday.
Rangers have scored two big promotion victories but McCall stressed it is not the end of Boyd’s hopes of playing a part in the final stages of the promotion push.
‘If I’m not starting either Kris or Jon, I don’t feel I need both of them on the bench,’ said McCall. ‘Kris played in my first game and Jon came on against Alloa and made an impact, so it would be difficult to leave Jon out at the moment.
‘Kris came in this morning and trained with the kids and Durranty said he was terrific, so no problem. I explained it to him and he’s fully committed to everything we are trying to do here. There has not been a problem for him, honestly.
‘He wanted to come in and train today to keep an edge on his fitness, which we will be looking to do between now and the end of the season.
‘Boyd’s attitude since I have walked in the door has been first-class. He trains as hard as he can and he will continue to do that because that’s the type of person he is.’
Rangers created a host of chances against Cowdenbeath but only surged to victory with three goals in the final seven minutes from Darren McGregor and a Haris Vuckic double.
Kudus Oyenuga cancelled out Nicky Clark’s opener with a shock equaliser teed up by a Bilel Mohsni blunder.
McCall said: ‘Obviously, he made a really poor error in judgment to try to pass it into an area that wasn’t on.
‘Bilel did so many good defensive things but he’s got to cut that out of his game and he knows that. He has got to learn.’