STEVEN GERRARD had to conclude that his side are not yet ready to welcome the superstar names of the Champions League. Rangers were always going to be too strong for their visitors from the Championship.

This victory won’t undo any of the damage that was self-inflicted against Malmo on Tuesday night. Overcoming Dunfermline will, as Gerrard sought, raise the mood at least.

The days since the defeat to Malmo have been difficult on and off the park and a fourth successive loss would have put Rangers firmly into crisis mode, even at this stage of the season.

In the end, those that arrived at a sun-kissed Ibrox need not have worried. This was much more like it from Rangers as they eased into the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup.

Time will tell if this is the first step on the road to glory at Hampden or the beginning of another false dawn for Rangers as Gerrard embarks on his seventh domestic cup campaign.

The defeats in the previous six have been painful and they ensure that the pressure is ramped up once again this term. The Premiership will naturally remain the main ambition, but the newly rebranded League Cup or Scottish Cup, or perhaps both, must be won as well.

The changes from Gerrard – eight of them, in fact, as Connor Goldson, Joe Aribo and Scott Wright survived from the Malmo misery – did the trick as Dunfermline were dispatched and attentions can now turn to the Europa League once again.

That will require Rangers to raise their levels and up their game, especially in a defensive sense, when compared to the Malmo capitulation and defeat to Dundee United.

But Gerrard will hope this win has allowed his side to regain some of their rhythm and edge at the other end of the park after a one-sided yet entertaining Friday night affair.

This was all about Rangers as an attacking force. It was a chance to play themselves back into form, to attempt to win back some of the support lost since their European exit.

Gerrard couldn’t have hand-picked a better tie in that regard. He couldn’t have wished for it to go any easier, either, as his side cruised to a rampant, relentless win.

The paucity of the opposition has to be taken into consideration, of course, and there will be far greater challenges ahead for Rangers, but this was a performance full of invention and endeavour.

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And goals. In truth, the margin of victory could, and should, have been even greater as Gerrard’s side overpowered the Pars.

It took Rangers just two minutes to break the deadlock. From that moment on, it became a matter of how many they would win by as Peter Grant watched on anxiously from the Dunfermline technical area.

A slack pass from Graham Dorrans, the former Rangers midfielder, was capitalised on by Calvin Bassey as he started off his most impressive performance in blue with an assist. John Lundstram did the rest as he fired the ball in off the bar.

Deniz Mehmet, largely helpless and at times hapless, was exposed by those in front of him time after time and he would pick the ball out of his net for a second time when Scott Wright finished emphatically after collecting a pass from Ianis Hagi.

Within seconds, the Romanian turned from provider to scorer. It was the brilliant Bassey that swung in the cross from the left once again and Hagi nodded home from close range as Grant watched on and started to fear the worst.

The pressure was almost incessant on Dunfermline and the scoreboard ticked over again after 33 minutes as Kemar Roofe made it 4-0 and got in on the scoring act.

The goal was made by Glen Kamara and Aribo, the Nigerian neatly flicking a pass from his midfielder counterpart through the Pars defence.

Roofe’s first touch brought the ball under control. With his second, he dispatched it beyond Memet and Ibrox roared in celebration and appreciation once again.

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Respite would come for Dunfermline as referee Willie Collum brought the first half to a close. The scoreline at that stage didn’t flatter Rangers in the slightest.

Four goals from four different scorers was just the kind of reaction that supporters had demanded and that Gerrard would have expected. The job was done, and in some style.

The night was destined to go from bad to worse for Dunfermline and they wouldn’t get to the hour mark before conceding for a fifth time. They were once again complicit in their problems.

Dorrans was rightly penalised for a needless barge on Roofe in the area and the striker stepped up to the spot himself. Mehmet went the right way, but the penalty was perfectly placed low to his left as Roofe doubled his tally.

The introduction of Alfredo Morelos just minutes later was a sign that Gerrard wasn’t content with what Rangers had and there was an expectation around Ibrox that the champions didn’t slip back down the gears and cruise to the whistle.

Rangers continued to dominate the ball, their movement and passing just too sharp and crisp for a demoralised Dunfermline that were hanging on and willing the closing stages away.

The chances would come and go for Rangers. Morelos was close on a couple of occasions, while Jack Simpson should have opened his account with a free-header from close range.

The sixth wouldn’t come, but it wasn’t needed. Rangers had their win and their reaction.

Now it is all attentions on Alashkert as Europa League action returns to Ibrox. That is, after all, Rangers’ level right now.