Rangers v Ayr United preview: Gary McAllister calls for focus ahead of Scottish League Cup quarter-final

Rangers assistant manager Gary McAllister has warned opponents Ayr United will look to feed off any signs of fatigue in Wednesday's Scottish League Cup quarter-final at Ibrox.

The club reached the Scottish Cup quarter-finals last season after beating Ayr 6-1 at Somerset Park, but their manager Ian McCall will be hopeful of a much-improved display in Glasgow after back-to-back victories in the Scottish Championship.

Ayr beat Alloa 2-0 on Saturday to move above Inverness Caledonian Thistle into top spot, and McAllister expects the visitors to provide a stiff challenge at Ibrox.

He told Tuesday's press conference: "We have respect for Ayr, they will come and cause problems but our aim is to reach a semi-final at Hampden.

"Our schedule has been pretty manic from day one, so we have an opportunity for younger players but we will go strong.

"It's all positive at the moment with several players returning from injury, we had several players involved in the reserves yesterday to get much needed minutes.

"We have quite a few youngsters and a couple who played in the reserve games are likely to be involved tomorrow."

Rangers are second in the Scottish Premiership - a far cry from when they last played Ayr at Ibrox in League One back in December 2013, when they secured a 20th successive competitive win thanks to a routine 3-0 success.

With Rangers facing high-flying Livingston at the weekend, Steven Gerrard is expected to ring the changes, but Ayr manager McCall says his side will "have a go" in their quest to pull off an upset.

He said: "Rangers are a different animal now under Gerrard. But I won't change the way my team play. I will play with two strikers and have a go at them. It will be a great experience in front of a big crowd."

Team news

Wes Foderingham will be handed a chance in goal. Lee Wallace and Umar Sadiq could be handed starts after playing for the reserves on Monday.

Eros Grezda and Jordan Rossiter also featured in the win over Motherwell but are likely to be handed more time to build up their fitness after ankle injuries.

Cammy Palmer, Jack Thomson, Robby McCrorie and Stephen Kelly have been added to the squad, while Ryan Jack and Gareth McAuley (both calf) are expected to miss out again. Kyle Lafferty is cup-tied.

Lawrence Shankland is one of Scotland's most in-form strikers, and he will look to add to his tally of 15 goals in 13 games this season.

The 22-year-old scored twice in the previous round in the 3-0 win at Dundee, but McCall has suggested he will make changes after claiming this weekend's Championship trip to Morton takes on greater significance.

Chris Higgins' hopes of being involved have been scuppered by the recurrence of an ankle injury.

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