STEVEN GERRARD had mixed emotions at Central Park as a 45-minute performance proved enough to see Rangers through to the Scottish Cup fifth round with a 3-1 win over Cowdenbeath.

The Light Blues boss made eight changes to the side that beat Livingston in the Premiership at the weekend as a number of players were given a chance to impress.

First half goals from Andy Halliday, Lassana Coulibaly and Kyle Lafferty were enough to win it before David Cox pulled one back for the hosts early in the second half.

Gerrard said: “I’m just pleased to get through. We’ve come through healthy and those are the two main things.

“I had the chance to rest certain people for the weekend and fixtures coming up.

“I thought it was a professional job. I was pleased with the first half, not so pleased with the second half.

“I thought we got sloppy and complacent. We were nervy at times and gave them opportunities where we may have been punished on a different night

“Credit to Cowdenbeath, they played a game for 90 minutes. We played for 45. But got the job done.

“There was some positive performances and I was disappointed with a couple of players tonight.

“I won’t name any names but that’s what tonight was about. I made a lot of changes and it was an opportunity to impress, to make a name for yourself and show you want to be involved going forward. Some people took the chance tonight, some people didn’t.

“Kyle needed that goal. I thought he was lively at times. He played at a left forward in the first half, moved closer to Jermain in the second half. His performance was a positive.”

Rangers were cruising at the break after a dominant first half showing but allowed the Blue Brazil back into the game as they dropped off at times during a low quality encounter.

Gary Bollan’s side grew in confidence after Cox converted the rebound when Wes Foderingham saved Harvey Swann’s spot-kick.

But it was a case of job done for the Gers as they set up a fifth round clash with Premiership rivals Kilmarnock next month.

Gerrard said: “For me, in these fixtures, you. Have to play properly you can’t take your foot off the grass and get complacent. If you do that, any player can hurt you.

“We gifted them a penalty ad had a few edgy moments. We didn’t do it properly in the second half.

“The penalty was a foul whether it was in or out of the box I don’t know.

“But it should have been retaken because the guy who scored was a yard inside the box.

“No complaints, obviously. I would have had complaints if it affected our progression. But it hasn’t.”