GALABANK is, even with the sort of bumper crowd that filed through the turnstiles to see the Scottish Cup last 16 tie between Annan and Rangers tonight, about as far removed from the Westfalenstadion as it is possible to get.

The game at the tiny ground in deepest Dumfriesshire, though, proved an ideal warm-up for the Ibrox giants ahead of their Europa League knockout round play-off match against Borussia Dortmund in Germany on Thursday evening.

A comfortable 3-0 victory booked a quarter-final place and extended their winning run since their Premiership mauling by Celtic at Parkhead to three games.

It is fair to say that, having scored 10 goals without reply, they have put their painful derby defeat firmly behind them. 

Aaron Ramsey, a marquee January loan signing from Juventus, made his first start for Rangers this evening after making substitute’s appearances against Hearts and Hibernian.

Giving the Welsh midfielder a runout on the artificial surface was a brave decision given his age and lack of game time this term.

However, the former Arsenal man dealt comfortably with the robust challenges he was subjected to, set up the opener and showed some nice touches in and around the final third. He will have benefitted from the workout enormously.  

Filip Helander, the Swedish centre half who has been out since September with a knee injury, also made his first appearance in over four months and put his side in front in just the seventh minute. With Leon Balogun injured, his return is timely.

Dortmund, the second-placed side in the Bundesliga, will provide far stiffer opposition in their famous 80,000-capacity arena in Rangers’ next competitive outing. Still, the Scottish champions will travel abroad with confidence and high hopes of recording a result given their recent form.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst made no fewer than 11 changes to his team. He handed Mateusz Zukowski, the Polish full-back who joined from Lechia Gdansk last month, his debut and also brought in Jon McLaughlin, James Sands, Borna Barisic, Scott Wright, Fashion Sakala and Kemar Roofe. He will have been pleased with the application and invention of his charges.

The part-timers proved problematic rivals for Rangers when they dropped into the bottom tier of Scottish football 10 years ago; they were held to a 0-0 draw away and beaten 2-1 at home during their time in the old Third Division.  

But stand-in skipper Davis and is team mates gave the travelling supporters who had braved the foul conditions – much of the action was played out in heavy rain and high winds – and crammed onto the terraces a goal to cheer early on and never looked in any danger of suffering an ignominious exit.

Willie Henderson, the legendary Rangers and Scotland winger, was one of those who had made the journey south. There was to be no repeat of the infamous defeat the side he was a member of suffered in the same competition at the hands of tiny Berwick Rangers back in 1967.    

Ramsey picked out Helander with a corner in the seventh minute and the defender had his header nodded off the line by Dominic Docherty. But he made no mistake second time around. It was a sweet moment for the scorer given his lengthy spell on the sidelines and he was mobbed by his delighted team mates  

Ramsey and Roofe both came close to increasing Rangers’ lead thereafter as the visitors dominated and the latter finally did so in the 22nd minute after good work by Wright wide on the right. He cut inside and fed the lone front man who took a single touch before despatching a low shot beyond Greg Fleming and into the bottom right corner.

Sakala was only denied a third by the crossbar after getting on the end of a Zukowski cut back in the Annan six yard box. But he made amends for his miss and then some when he rifled a defence-splitting through ball from Diallo into the top right corner from an acute angle in the 33rd minute.

The hosts offered very little in response. Tony Wallace fired over and got an ambitious long range effort on target. But McLaughlin was untroubled. The keeper spent most of the opening 45 minutes attempting to keep himself warm. He had to kick a blue smoke cannister that a fan had foolishly thrown onto the astroturf just before half-time.

Ramsey backheeled into the net after being teed up by Davis only for assistant referee Alan Mulvanny to flag him offside.  The 31-year-old was removed from the field after an hour. Has he done enough to make the starting line-up in North Rhine-Westphalia in midweek? Van Bronckhorst may be sorely tempted.

Alex Lowry, the youngster who impressed onlookers when he came on against Stirling Albion at Ibrox in the previous round last month, took over from Ramsey. Elsewhere, Davis and Ramsay made way for Leon King and Jack Simpson. Diallo struck the top of the crossbar before being replaced by Cedric Itten. Charlie McCann was also handed a first team debut when Sakala left the pitch.

It would be wrong to read too much into the showing of any of the Rangers players following this one-sided encounter with League 2 opponents. But both Sands, who was deployed at centre half, and Zukowski, who deputised for James Tavernier at right back, looked decent. King and Lowry also injected energy into their side’s forays upfield.

The substitutes were unable to add to their team’s tally, but McCann forced a save from Fleming in the close stages before picking up a booking from referee Alan Muir. All of those involved will have furthered their chances of playing in future no end. The 2,500-strong crowd enjoyed the occasion even if there was no goal for the locals to celebrate.

The fact that his team, who were so porous at the back in the Old Firm match last week, kept their third consecutive clean sheet will have buoyed Van Bronckhorst.