I watched Rangers win 8-0 in the Scottish Cup and noted Andrew Cavenagh's key decision and improving duo

A first-half hat trick from James Tavernier, a Ryan Naderi double, a Matthew Shiels own goal and late strikes from Bojan Miovski and Tochi Chukwuani sealed a comfortable win for Danny Rohl’s side, who will now firmly believe they can secure a domestic double.

Here are our three key takeaways from the match...

Cavenagh’s key decision

Sunday’s game came just a day short of it being exactly one year since Queen’s Park shocked Rangers and effectively ended Philippe Clement’s reign as manager at Ibrox with a 1-0 Scottish Cup win in Govan. So perhaps now is the best time to take stock of where the club are at.

That defeat to Queen’s Park began Rangers’ worst ever losing streak at home, with Clement dismissed 13 days later after a drab 2-0 home defeat to St Mirren. Installed as interim manager in the aftermath of that defeat, Barry Ferguson lost his first three home games in charge and failed to register a single home win until almost three months after Clement’s departure. The ownership, the playing squad, and the management all changed in the summer, but those who witnessed Rangers’ early-season purgatory saw the same old problems.

Enter Danny Rohl. The German head coach arrived in Glasgow with little fanfare in late October; some reports had suggested he wasn’t the club’s first choice, while others questioned his ability to rejuvenate a team that had endured their worst start to a league season since 1978.

Little over three months later, he has Rangers three points from the summit, into the last eight of the Scottish Cup, and has lost just two of his first 20 domestic games in charge. Rangers chairman Andrew Cavanagh has had criticism since his takeover of the club in the summer, but the best decision the American has made so far has been appointing the German.

Striker stat

The headlines from Rangers’ thrashing of Queen’s Park will go to new signing Naderi following his two-goal haul on his full debut. His physical prowess, link-up play and goal-scoring instinct were all on show in the Scottish Cup mauling of the Spiders. While tougher tests will come, it was an impressive start to his career at Ibrox following his £4.8million move from Hansa Rostock last week.

However, it is worth noting that Miovski’s late strike in the victory was his fifth goal in his last seven appearances, of which he had played a combined total of just 399 minutes. On average, he is currently scoring more than a goal every 90 minutes. While the bulk of those goals have come in the hammerings of Annan Athletic and Queen’s Park in early rounds of the Scottish Cup, it shouldn’t be underestimated how much confidence he’ll take from consistently seeing the ball hit the back of the net - no matter how good or bad the opposition is.

Be it Youssef Chermiti, Naderi, or Miovski himself, the club needs a reliable set of strikers who know where the net is, if they are to achieve their goal of bringing silverware back to Rangers this season. The North Macedonian hasn’t had the best of starts since his arrival from Girona, but he knows how to score goals in the Scottish Premiership, scoring 32 goals for Aberdeen prior to his La Liga departure and could prove pivotal if he can replicate his little scoring spree in the league during a crucial final few months of the season.

Antman improvement

It was another bright showing for Finnish winger Oliver Antman, following on from his impressive cameo in the 5-1 win over Kilmarnock in midweek.

Of all the signings made by the club in the summer, the 24-year-old was perhaps one of the most exciting. Arriving from Go Ahead Eagles in the Eredivisie, he had been scouted by Barcelona as a youngster and found himself involved in 13 goals (5 goals, 8 assists) since December 2024, making him one of Europe’s most productive players during that period, behind only Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak, and Ousmane Dembele when it came to goal contributions. His debut against Viktoria Plzen also excited many fans.

Since his debut, though, he’s looked like a shadow of the players Rangers thought they had signed. A lack of form combined with a troublesome injury saw him fall down the pecking order, just as Rohl had started to rejuvenate Rangers. Rumours of a potential January exit had also done the rounds. However, he remained at Ibrox beyond the deadline and, for the second game in a row, looked ready to prove his worth, with bags of energy and invention on show.

He’s now got two assists in his last two games, and has shown some real character to battle his way back into the reckoning. Antman will now hope he can continue to prove to Rohl and the Rangers support that he can be relied upon in the final third of the season, with some absolutely enormous games on the horizon.

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