Former Rangers youth coach Ricky Waddell says hot-shot Alex Lowry has a long way to go before making the step-up to the first team, but took his chance last night.The Uddingston 18-year-old made his debut as he climbed off the bench as an early sub for Ianis Hagi, and scored the opening goal in a 4-0 win over League Two side Stirling Albion.Waddell was working part-time as a coach in the Rangers Academy, but left for Braves [then Edusport] in 2019.
While at Ibrox, he oversaw young talent including Nathan Patterson and Billy Gilmour - both of whom are now playing in the English Premier League - and only had midfielder Lowry for a couple of sessions.He's delighted to see the young talent coming through, but says he has a bit of work to do, having seen him at close quarters playing for Rangers 'B' in the Lowland League.Lowry scored twice in a recent 2-2 draw with Braves, and Waddell said: "Alex was around when I was at Rangers, but I took boys who were a few years older than him, the 2000s and 2001s, so Patterson and Gilmour, and I was lucky enough to manage those guys. "Alex was a good young player, I remember taking him for a few sessions when I was working in the Academy, although I wasn't his head coach."He has bags of ability, bags of talent, but he needs to probably add that work-ethic to his game."He scored two goals against us, though I felt they were a bit fortunate to get their penalty, but he still had to go and stick it away, he did that, and he showed a bit of quality in that game."He's came on [against Stirling Albion] and done really well, and it's great to see young Scottish talent in general getting into first teams and progressing.
Read more on dailyrecord.co.uk