Rangers assistant Gary McAllister ponders how to solve Calvin Bassey 'problem'

Peter Grant’s side were far more accommodating visitors than Swedish champions Malmo had been a few nights previous and the men from Ibrox had the game sewn up by half-time. Summer signing John Lundstrum got the rout under way with just three minutes played before Scott Wright and Ianis Hagi got in on the act, with Kemar Roofe adding goals four and five either side of the half-time interval.

The Pars arrived in Govan out of sorts – the early promise from an encouraging group stage campaign in the Premier Sports Cup has been eroded by a slow start in the Championship – and Rangers will surely face stiffer tests in the weeks to come.

For McAllister, though, Friday night’s demolition of Dunfermline was about getting a few boxes ticked – and the Ibrox No.2 was delighted as his players marked them in emphatic fashion.

“Prior to the Dunfermline game we wanted to keep a clean sheet, which we haven’t done recently,” he revealed. “We want to score some goals, we wanted goals from different areas of the pitch and we got that. We wanted to be in the next round and we ticked all of the boxes.

“We had to show the fans we are still here as it was a tough week for them as well. The [early] goal got them behind us and they left the ground feeling a bit better.

“We asked for a response and we got that, we got in front early and from there the attitude and some of the quality was excellent. We looked sharp early and the goal eased us down. Some of the combination play in the final third was excellent.

“When we get in front we don’t try to make the other team look foolish, we just stuck to what we do. We had several goal threats, we had bodies in the box and we balls whipped across the six-yard box so it was a good night.”

Among those to have stood out was left-back Calvin Bassey, whose exertions were rewarded with a man-of-the-match crown after the full-time whistle.

Alongside Nathan Patterson, the right-back who made his Scotland debut at this summers European Championships, Bassey has an unenviable role at Rangers. The two young full-backs serve as understudies to established first-team regulars in Borna Barisic and James Tavernier and have to patiently bide their time for opportunities in Gerrard’s starting XI.

According to McAllister, though, they are getting closer in their quests to receive regular game time at Ibrox.

“Calvin and Nathan are pushing every day in training,” he explained. “The fact is we have a massive schedule going from European football to domestic and we have a lot of travelling to do, so we need everybody.

“We needed competition in each position and we have that and now it is real. It’s a nice problem to have.

“We have two quality full-backs, we have someone with a beautiful left foot in Borna and then we have a young guy in Calvin who has that energy going up and down the left side. I thought his deliveries against Dunfermline were superb and I thought he was the deserved man of the match.

“It’s a good problem for all of us on the coaching staff. It’s been the same with the goalkeepers [Allan McGregor and Jon McLaughlin], it’s been game by game. We are very fortunate to have great competition there as well, so it is all to play for in every area of the pitch.”

Despite the progression of the likes of Bassey and Patterson, McAllister admits that the club are on the lookout for new recruits.

Much of the discourse in the aftermath of Rangers’ Champions League exit – and the Scottish champions missing out on the £40million that accompanies a seat at European club football’s top table – has been surrounding which players are headed towards the exit door at Ibrox, but the assistant hopes that one or two new faces will be pitching up in Govan before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

“We are continually looking and we are going down avenues all the time,” McAllister added, “and if something can come off prior to the window closing, then great.

“We are still looking to get better players here.”