Michael Beale hails Rangers reaction to 'disaster' 24 hours as Sam Lammers makes Ibrox boss smile after Hoffenheim draw

Michael Beale hailed his Rangers players' reaction to a "disaster" 24 hours prior to their 2-2 friendly draw with Hoffenheim.

The Gers squad was ravaged by a sickness bug in the build up. John Souttar, Ben Davies, Tom Lawrence and Fashion Sakala were all missing, which left the Light Blues particularly short in defence. Beale had no choice but to start Leon Balogun alongside young Johnly Yfeko, and it looked very much like a patched up back four as the hosts eased into a 2-0 lead at the break thanks to goals from Pavel Kaderabek and Ihlas Bebou.

But Beale's boys dug deep in the second half and halved the deficit through a James Tavernier penalty after Cyriel Dessers had been chopped down in the box. The comeback was completed by Sam Lammers as the Dutchman's clever header made it two goals in three games for him in a Rangers shirt.

"I was frustrated at half-time, because even though we had a disaster 24 hours with the illness in the camp, the two goals we let in were really poor," said Beale. "We actually created some chances ourselves, but our last pass was out. We tried something new tactically. Second half, we were very good. There were chances at both ends but the least we deserved was to come away with was a draw.

"It's amazing really. You come here with two defenders in Leon and Johnly and you end the game with no central defenders. Those are the scenarios that might happen in the season. It wasn't ideal in terms of preparation but there was some good play again today."

Lammers has looked the pick of the new signings for Rangers so far. New boy Danilo was handed a second half debut off the bench, but will need time to integrate after only arriving in Germany to meet his new teammates on Friday night.

"I'm really