PRIZE FIGHTERS

Gio praises resolute Rangers for bouncing back from Europa pain

GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST picked up his first trophy as Rangers manager then saluted his players for their fortitude at the end of a draining week.

Forced into extra-time for the second time in less than 72 hours, Rangers found the strength to overpower Hearts at Hampden to claim the Scottish Cup for the first time since 2009.

Goals from substitutes Ryan Jack and Scott Wright (inset) arrived in a three-minute burst that went some way towards soothing the hurt of the club’s Europa League final defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the heat of Seville last Wednesday night.

‘We have character in the team,’ said Van Bronckhorst. ‘In the difficult moments, we stand up, rise up and go again.

‘We always come back stronger. To end this week with a trophy is very positive.’

Having arrived back from Spain on Thursday afternoon, the Rangers squad observed the formalities of the funeral for kitman Jimmy Bell before completing a solitary training

session in preparation for the final.

‘It’s been a very demanding week,’ admitted Van Bronckhorst. ‘The build-up to the final came in very difficult circumstances for us.

‘Mentally, it was big because we lost on penalties and had to fly back. Then yesterday we said farewell to Jimmy and in the afternoon we trained.

‘We had a meeting before the game of how we wanted to play and the line-up. I told them we have to move forward and move on and all that hard work is rewarded with a trophy.’

The final ended with Rangers’ anointed cup goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin making way for club No 1 Allan McGregor to play out the last minute or so of the match.

Out of contract this summer, the 40-year-old is considering retirement but Van Bronckhorst refused to rule out a new deal for the former Scotland international.

‘It was a nice gesture from Jon,’ continued the Dutchman. ‘He told me that when the result was there he would give up his place to Allan for the last minutes.

‘It’s not often you have players at 40 years old and it was nice for him to end the season with a trophy.

‘Now we are going to sit down and see how his future is. Talks will go on once the season has ended. We’ll see what will happen.’

The deals of Connor Goldson, Steven Davis and Leon Balogun are also due to expire in the coming weeks, while Joe Aribo, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos are all entering the final 12 months of their Rangers contracts. Decisions on whether to cash in on those three will be among those facing Van Bronckhorst and the club’s sporting director Ross Wilson.

‘I think there will be changes this summer,’ admitted Van Bronckhorst. ‘I’m not sure if the out-of-contract players will sign new ones.

‘Players have the chance to move for another challenge but they also want stability for their futures.

‘Hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll know if we can extend or we have to look for other players.’

Although Jack and Wright both claimed fine Hampden goals that will linger in the memory, Rangers’ performance was best defined by the efforts of Calvin Bassey.

Immense as a centre-back in