John Souttar and Ridvan Yilmaz are in action for Rangers B this afternoon.
The two first-team stars are stepping up their returns from injury with Michael Beale getting them competitive action with the second string in an Old Firm Glasgow Cup tie with Celtic.
Highly-rated defender Leon King - who was thrown in at the deep end earlier this season under Giovanni van Bronckhorst - also plays in a strong looking Rangers side. The youngster played for the B time in the Lowland League last time out with his game-time under the new regime harder to come by due to the form of returning duo Connor Goldson and Ben Davies.
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King featured in big Champions League games against the likes of Liverpool and Napoli this season and that experience will only be a positive thing for the defender. Souttar, who joined on a free from Hearts in the summer, climbed off the bench in added on time against Kilmarnock at the weekend to make his long awaited return at Ibrox on Saturday.
Yilmaz, who joined for big money from Besiktas, had to be patient but impressed in back to back games before suffering his injury. He will be hoping to return and force his way into Beale's plans with Borna Barisic the number one choice at left-back at the moment.
Speaking about Souttar after the victory at Ibrox, Beale said: “John is a really really good player, he has had a real tough time with injury. Since I came into the building he has been a real top teammate to his fellow players when he has not been playing and it is nice to see him get out there today.
“He has only been back training with the group for a couple of weeks so it is the start of him picking up on his fitness but it is lovely to have him back. Similarly to Ianis [Hagi], these boys have been lost to the team for the whole season, it is important we don't rush them now because we want them back for the long term.”
Rangers XI: Budinauckas, Devine, Ridvan, King, Souttar, Rice, Lovelace, Lindsay, Ure, Lyall, McCausland
Subs: Pazikas, Allan, Fraser, MacKinnon, Strachan, Graham, Stevens
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