Steven Gerrard has backed born-again Brandon Barker to terrorise Scottish defences with his searing pace in the coming season as he demanded even more from his free-scoring Rangers team in attack.

Former England Under-20 internationalist Barker struggled to make a significant impact last season after moving to Ibrox from Manchester City and only scored one goal in 12 first team appearances.

However, the 23-year-old wide man has caught the eye in the two pre-season friendly matches he has played against Lyon and Motherwell this month.

He came on against the latter in the second-half on Wednesday evening and forced Ricki Lamie to turn the ball into his own net after making a powerful run into the visitors’ penalty box.

Barker’s bright performances have pleased Gerrard who is confident his countryman has a huge amount to offer his Rangers side in attack.

“Brandon Barker has put in another positive contribution in for us which I’m pleased about,” he told Premier Sports after the emphatic 4-0 triumph.

“We have put the ball in Brandon’s court. We know the talent, we know what he’s capable of. We brought him in and gave him a long contract because we believed in him. We haven’t forgotten or given up on him.

“It is over to Brandon to provide consistency. We will give him the opportunities and he has certainly taken his last two. Two cameos, but straight away you see that blistering pace. Defenders, certainly up here in Scotland, will find it difficult to cope with that.”

First-half goals from Ryan Kent, Ianis Hagi and Joe Aribo and the Lamie own goal against their Premiership rivals on Wednesday evening saw Rangers romp to another confidence-boosting victory.

The Ibrox club, who now take on English League One club Coventry City at home on Saturday, have netted seven goals and kept three clean sheets in their outings in France and Scotland in the past week.

But former Liverpool and England midfielder Gerrard still felt his charges could have performed better going forward and been more ruthless up front and will be looking for an improvement when the 2020/21 campaign gets underway a week tomorrow.

“We played with intensity and energy,” he said. “Our first-half performance was really strong across the board. I was looking to try and find some faults in it at half-time, but, in the main, in the first 45 minutes we were right at it.

“So that is the level we are looking for. We took that on from France. I was wondering what we were going to be like after France. I was really pleased with our intensity from the start, certainly until half-time.

“All the players are aware individually they need to contribute in the final third. I still think that we can get better in that area. We got into some really good areas around the box and we just need to be a little bit more patient and show that little bit more quality. I think we can create even more.

“We certainly look a real big threat on the transition. As soon as Motherwell made a mistake we pounced on it and opened them up really nice and scored some really strong goals. The subs came on and tried to keep that level. I thought we lost our shape a little bit in the second-half.

“But all in all, it was a real strong night. I am pleased with the result, the clean sheet. At 3-0 we are still throwing bodies in front of the ball and showing that desire to keep the ball out of the net, which is another positive going in to next week. In the main I am pleased.”