Amid an air of negativity at Rangers over the last few weeks, there was some majorly positive news over the last few days as both Alex Lowry and Kemar Roofe returned to the football pitch.
Prior to this week, neither player had turned out for the top team as injuries plague the first third of the season for both players.
This has been an issue for Rangers and especially for Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who used both Alex Lowry and Kemar Roofe extensively last season.
But as Rangers toil on the park, a lack of drive, invention and responsibility irking supporters and a negative feeling spreading through the crowd, these two players in particular have the ability to provide some much-needed excitement and spark.
Alex Lowry and Kemar Roofe can ignite much needed Rangers spark
Alex Lowry returned this week for the B Team as they faced off against East Stirlingshire, with the creative midfielder playing 45 minutes in the 4-1 Scottish Lowland League victory.
Plagued by an injury heading into the season, Lowry looked to be building himself back up to first-team level but for Dumbarton hatchet man Ally Love to set him back amid his recovery.
The hammer thrower absolutely wiped the midfielder out after he’d netted a hattrick in a 7-0 SPFL Trust Trophy hammering and Rangers were quite rightly incensed.
Still only 19, that combination of fearlessness, progressiveness and elegance makes Alex Lowry a very exciting player for Rangers fans and amid injuries to Ianis Hagi and Tom Lawrence, he’s been sorely missed.
Everyone knows what Kemar Roofe can bring to the table but unfortunately we’ve seen his Rangers career impacted too many times by niggling injuries.
The latest has kept him out since the Europa League Final but the striker made a return to the applause of Ibrox in the tepid 1-0 League Cup win over Dundee.
Getting 17 second half minutes is a start and Rangers fans will be hoping the experienced 29-year-old striker can get back into the squad and back amongst the goals.
Roofe is an intelligent player and a incisive one, always alert in the box and someone who can genuinely create something out of nothing.
Rangers have lacked his spontaneity and on-pitch intuitiveness and seeing him back in the squad, be it up top or off the right, adds a potency to the Ibrox attack which we’ve been missing all season.
Combined, both players have the capability to bring something to the Rangers team that is sorely missing at present and the sooner they’re back up to match fitness the better for a struggling Ibrox side.
As boos ring out around Ibrox, there’s a growing feeling that Rangers are ambling to the winter breakwith the club’s season dependent on them hanging on.
