Zak Lovelace has been hailed after climbing off the bench to win the Glasgow Cup for Rangers B.
The B team beat Celtic 3-2 in the final at City Stadium in Mount Floriday last night, snatching it with a later winner of real quality from the young forward.
The young Gers, who had returning first-team stars Oscar Cortes and Rabbi Matondo in their starting XI, opened the scoring after 15 minutes with Cortes setting up Paul Nsio for a tap-in.
Celtic equalised before the break but Cole McKinnon restored the advantage with a well-taken volley. Another leveller came with just 15 minutes left on the clock but the stage was set for Lovelace.
The 18-year-old got on the end of a long ball, flicked it over a defender’s head and then surging past the keeper before applying the finish.
Lovelace got his first-team breakthrough last season but suffered a heartbreaking injury on his first start.
There was excitement when he eventually returned to B team action but the young Rangers prospect then suffered another injury.
Before that, Philippe Clement had instructed Lovelace to be subbed off while watching a B team game as he looked set to be handed a first team chance and did get a run out in the Europa League against FCSB.
Rangers fans had demanded Lovelace’s involvement after seeing him steal the show against Stenhousemuir that night, but he picked up another injury.
The teen talent has just made his latest return but was understood to be disappointed to not start last night’s final.
Lovelace shines for Rangers B after ‘disappointment’
Rangers B team manager David McCallum addressed that in his post-match interview.
He insists it is normal to be disappointed in that scenario but insisted Lovelace was not yet ready to start the game.
And he has lauded the youngster after the massive impact he had on the outcome.
Asked if biding your time is part of being a player at Ibrox, McCallum told The Rangers Review: “Of course it is. I don’t think any player should feel that you’re entitled or guaranteed. And Zak wasn’t at that. I think he understood the situation.
“But he also understood that he was going to have a part to play. Did we all know it was going to be the part that he did play? Absolutely not. But we knew he was capable of that. And I think he’s shown that.
“He is a goal threat. He’s got a presence. He’s a finisher. He’s got a strength that he can run against the back line, which causes threats and causes problems. So he’s got a mixed variety of how he can impact the game.
“But I actually quite liked the way he’s managed not starting the game. Like I said, I think every player should feel, as you’re getting towards the senior game, that you need to play, and it wasn’t the case with Zak tonight.
“Zak’s obviously come back from injury, but you need to feel that you earned that moment.
“Zak tonight, like I said, he got injured a couple of weeks ago. So he wasn’t ready to start the game and he knew that. The disappointment is fine. I think that’s okay.”
Oscar Cortes and Rabbi Matondo start for Rangers B team
Wingers Cortes and Matondo each played 45 minutes for the second string as they continued their return from injury lay-offs.
Philippe Clement has been excited about getting the Gers duo back involved with the first-team and they continued their comebacks.
Both were a thorn in the side of Celtic throughout the first 45 minutes, and McCallum revealed it was always the plan to sub them at half-time.
He said: “Listen, they’re coming back again to come into the manager’s thoughts. And we spoke to the players before the game.
“Every player had a different reason to be involved in the game tonight. For those two, they’re senior players.
“They’re a first-team squad. They’re coming back to prepare themselves to go and be available for the manager for team selection.
“So other players for different reasons. So what we wanted from every player was to contribute to what was asked of them. So, but yeah, 45 minutes was always the plan.”
