Something rare took place in France last night, something we’re not used to seeing under any Ranger manager, and it’s pretty abstract.

When dead rubber or early cup round matches surfaced, our previous bosses would, rightly, give fringe players an outing.

But in most cases, they’d fail to take their chance and the overall performance would be average at very best.

Last night Nathan Patterson, John Lundstram, and Scott Wright to name just three players on the fringes of the squad got their chance to show what they could do, and for the first time we can remember, all three impressed and gave Gio something to think about.

Patterson got in plenty of tackles, tonnes of dribbles, and had a good level of passing accuracy, getting a very strong 72 touches.

Lundstram, as illustrated earlier, had a fine night in his correct position and looking something like his best.

And while Scotty’s limits were a little obvious with his poor passing and lack of dribbles, he still had his best night in the shirt with a goal and his obvious hunger, not to mention getting in more shots than anyone else in the shirt.

In short, all players on the fringes gave the boss new options, and that’s not something we’re used to seeing.

Remember that match years ago in Fife, the cup? Where the likes of Polster, Edmundson, Docherty and Stewart got chances to impress and all struggled despite the result?

This is the difference at the moment. Everyone is putting in shifts under this manager and the more fringe players who rise to the level, the more options Gio has.

Which is all the better for Rangers.