Lafferty leads Rangers´ rout of Dunfermline

Kyle Lafferty scored a hat-trick as Rangers began the defence of their Scottish League Cup title with a 7-2 rout of Dunfermline at Ibrox here on Tuesday.

Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist, himself a former Scotland striker, praised Lafferty’s display but said he was far from the finished article.

“I thought his third goal was first class and hopefully he can kick on from here,” McCoist said.

“He’s much talked about but he wants to do well and, if he listens, he’s got a chance. “Don’t forget, he has scored a lot of important goals for us.

“When Kyle first came up he was a raw talent and he is far from being the finished product.

“He’s a good boy and he wants to do well and learn and I can certainly see progress. But Kyle knows there is a heck of a long way to go.”

Nikica Jelavic scored twice for Rangers with Madjid Bougherra and Steven Naismith also on target

Callum Woods and Joe Cardle grabbed goals for First Division Dunfermline, who were outclassed.

Pars manager Jim McIntyre said: “We asked the boys at half-time to show courage, see where it takes us and try to get the next goal.

“We did that but then we committed the cardinal sin and gave away the next goal. That deflated us. When a team scores seven goals, you’ve got to give them credit.

“Even in the last 10 minutes they were still pushing forward and trying to create and that says a lot. From our point of view, we need to look at the goals we gave away and that was a sore point.”