• Home
• /
• Football

The busier we are the better, says McCoist

GLASGOW - Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist says he is happy to have a hectic fixture list as his side chase a domestic treble.

The Old Firm side added another date to their already busy calendar when they could only manage a goalless draw with St Mirren in their Scottish Cup fifth round tie on Saturday.

The sides, who will face each other in the League Cup final and in the league in next few weeks, will now meet again at Ibrox on February 17 to decide who will progress to the quarter-finals.

Rangers have crammed six games into the past 17 days and face another midweek game on Wednesday when they take on Motherwell in a Scottish Premier League clash before high-flying Hibernian visit on Saturday.

But McCoist says he would rather have a heavy workload than be out of the running in the Scottish Cup.

“If you were offering me the option of that or being out of the cup you’d take the extra game all day,” he said.

“It gives us an opportunity again to get one or two players back. I know Maurice Edu isn’t too far away and DaMarcus Beasley shouldn’t be too far away either.

“That would hopefully give us one or two options for the manager who can pick and choose and maybe make one or two changes.”

The match at St Mirren Park saw the return of Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller from their injury lay-offs as second-half substitutes and although the strikers never got a shot on goal McCoist was pleased to have them back.

“I thought the two centre-backs performed well together in David Weir’s absence and another big plus was getting our two top goal-scorers back on the park,” he said.

“Just looking at it we didn’t create an awful lot more when they came on to be fair to the boys who were on.

“We just wanted to give them an opportunity, especially Boyd who has come back from a difficult double hernia and you definitely don’t want to rush them.

“The two of them did fine and they will definitely benefit from that time today.”

The Old Firm side also welcomed back Madjid Bougherra from the African Cup of Nations and the Algerian went straight back into the side in the absence of Weir.

And McCoist praised the defender’s contribution to the team.

“Madjid has got a stature and a presence. I thought he did two very good, bordering on brilliant, things for us today,” McCoist said.

“One was in the first-half when he had a bit of magic on the right wing and put a great ball across and the second one was when he headed the one off the line and defended very well for us.

“I don’t think anyone can deny Madjid is certainly a player any team would miss.”

The Algerian defender contributed at both ends as he supplied teasing crosses for his side’s forwards as well as twice making goal-line clearances from Michael Higdon.

Bougherra has a long season ahead with a trip to the World Cup with Algeria in the summer.

But the defender is determined to head there as a treble winner by picking up all the trophies on offer in Scotland.

“The African Nations Cup was very long mentally and physically,” Bougherra said.

“I came back and played straight away and it might take one or two weeks to get back to fitness.

“But I do my best to do well and I’m very pleased to come back to the team.

“It is going to be very hard as this is going to be a big season for me. I need to be very careful about my recovery after games.

“I have some programmes to stay fit but in the game you can’t conserve energy you have to give 100 per cent.

“When I was in Angola I followed the team and when I saw that we were in the League Cup final, ten points in front in the league and we were still in the cup it was a big motivation for me.

“Personally I have the World Cup to look forward but it can be a big season for every player as winning a treble here is very important.”