Glenn Middleton revealed how Steven Gerrard sent him out for his first Rangers start with instructions to give Ayr “90 minutes of pure hell”.
Now the Ibrox teenager has begged to be let loose against Aberdeen so he can kick up another storm in the last four of the Betfred Cup.
The 18-year-old wideman was given his full debut during Gers’ 4-0 quarter-final triumph over Ian McCall’s Ladbrokes Championship leaders and followed through with Gerrard’s orders as he bagged an impressive brace.
It has been quite a couple of weeks for the youngster, having also bagged his first Rangers goal against Dundee before climbing off the bench to spark his side’s Europa League revival in the 2-2 draw with Villarreal.
But Middleton hopes to he has done enough to convince his manager that he can switch from the wing to centre-forward and replace suspended striker Alfredo Morelos and his cup-tied partner Kyle Lafferty, who are both set to sit out the showdown with Derek McInnes team next month.
“I’m really happy with the Ayr game,” he said, “However, it’s not about me, it’s about the team and the objective was to get into the semi-finals.
“The manager just told me to give the right-back pure hell. I’m always going to go at someone – as that’s just what I do.
“I’m not going to say I am the most technical player in the world because I’m not, I’m just lucky to have good players in the team that help me out and I have been lucky the manager has been really good with me.
“The manager has been brilliant, it’s been a dream come true to get into the first team.
“It’s just the case of taking the chance to show the manager can trust me in any situation. Everything just adds up. I keep doing things bit by bit and it seems to be going in the right direction.
“I played as a striker when I was younger – it was my position and like any forward, I love scoring goals.
“It would mean everything to me to be involved (in the semi-final). I am as desperate as anyone to get this club back and win a trophy. But we will need to see what happens.
“We have a really good squad now and I think everyone can see that. We have got two or three top players in every position. So it’s up to us to give the best performance we can.”
Gerrard made six changes to the side which dismantled St Johnstone on Sunday but it did not disrupt Rangers’ flow as they strolled to their sixth-straight home win against the Honest Men.
Middleton added: “That shows we are definitely going the right way. There were a few changes tonight, me included and I think we all showed we didn’t let the levels drop too much.
“Everyone in that squad knows what we are capable of doing. It’s just about making it happen.”
