STEVEN GERRARD admits he was ‘bored’ at times during Rangers’ Scottish Cup win over Stranraer as his fringe players failed to make the most of their opportunity to impress.

Goals in either half from Scott Arfield and Jermain Defoe, the striker scoring from the spot after winning a penalty, were enough to clinch a place in the fifth round. But it was a low-key return to action for the Gers in front of a crowd of almost 39,000 at Ibrox.

Youngster Nathan Patterson impressed on his competitive debut for the Light Blues but the likes of Jordan Jones and Andy Halliday failed to catch the eye from the start, while Brandon Barker and Sheyi Ojo had little impact off the bench.

Gerrard said: “The priority was to get into the next round, so I’m pleased about that. I’m pleased about the clean sheet and the fifth win on the spin.

“Outside of that, I feel pretty flat. For large periods of the game, I was quite bored watching it.

“Our fans came tonight really excited and hoping the players could put a show on and entertain them over the course of 90 minutes. Unfortunately we never delivered that.

“If you are outside the 11 at the moment, waiting patiently for an opportunity and it comes against a team a couple of leagues below us - it’s a good opportunity for people to show me they are going to affect the 11. Some people didn’t take that opportunity tonight.

“I was really pleased with Nathan Patterson. It was a very positive home debut for a kid his age who has only been around the first team squad for a short period.

“Everything I have asked of Nathan, in Dubai and leading up to this game, we went out and did it.

“I’m pleased with young Kai Kennedy getting a debut as well but I wanted to give him 30 minutes, more of a taste of it. Unfortunately I didn’t have that luxury.

“So I’m pleased with a few things tonight but I feel really disappointed and flat with some things as well.”