Rabbi Matondo exhilirates as West Ham win shows Rangers in fine fettle on and off the park

There has been a palpable sense of renewal and realignment in Rangers’ off-field activities across pre-season.

Yet, there was a familiar feel about the main takeaways from a hugely impressive 3-1 friendly victory over West Ham. With the sales of Calvin Bassey to Ajax - the £19m up-front deal yet to be confirmed - and Joe Aribo to Southampton, the Ibrox club lost two of their integral players from last season’s Europa League final push. But the gains must outweigh any concerns over these departures. On that front, it helps that Rabbi Matondo - essentially a replacement for Aribo following the Wesh winger’s £2.5m move from Schalke - proved so exhilarating on his Ibrox bow.

The 21-year-old’s half-time introduction, which instantly led to his tearing down the flank and teeing up fellow summer arrival Tom Lawrence to neatly side-foot in the opener before Matondo lashed in from 10 yards to make it 3-0 just before the hour mark, allowed Rangers to do what Rangers did in coming within a penalty shoot-out of claiming a European trophy a mere two months ago. That is, they not only proved capable of being robust when confronted by a leading side from one of the big five leagues but able to give such an opponent a bloody nose. Even as the long-term injury absence of Alfredo Morelos was felt - as in the latter stages of the Seville run - with new central striking addition Antonio Colak giving the impression he will need time to find his feet.

The Croatian doesn’t have that with the Champions League third round qualifier first leg away to Union Saint-Gilloise little under a fortnight away. But Giovanni van Bronckhorst won’t be reliant on Colak for goals in that tie, on the evidence of the West Ham filleting. As Ryan Kent suggested in