STUART MCCALL thought Rangers had a striker in the style of Ally McCoist coming through the ranks when he saw Ryan Hardie hitting the goal trail for the Light Blues' Under-20s.

But the Ibrox boss has been pleasantly surprised to see there is more to the 18-year-old's game than putting the ball in the back of the net.

Hardie marked his first start for Rangers with a brace in the 3-1 win over Dumbarton last weekend as he fired McCall's side to a crucial Championship triumph.

After replacing the injured Kenny Miller and making the most of his big chance to shine at the Rock, Hardie could now be handed a berth against Falkirk this weekend at Ibrox.

It was a big call for McCall to put his faith in Hardie but the Light Blues boss has been impressed with his strike star.

He said: "Even before I came to the club I was well aware of him.

"I used to go to all the 20s games at Motherwell and I used to have a look down the leagues and [see] who was the top scorer, and Hardie was always scoring for Rangers.

"When I came in, I thought he was more of a Coisty type striker, a penalty box striker with all the goals he was getting.

"It is only when I was here I thought 'there is more to him than just being in the six yard box'.

"He has got good pace, he runs the channels well, he gets in there and he can finish.

"Naturally, he is a good finisher and he is very cool, he had no nerves before the game.

"He has got a good temperament, which a striker needs. You need not to get flustered and he certainly doesn't do that."

After seeing Hardie make his mark in the first team, McCall saw Shane Ferguson pull on a Rangers jersey for the first time on Monday night.

The on-loan Newcastle winger is recovering from a knee injury that has kept him sidelined for several months and McCall is pleased to see him back in action.

"He's not feeling any real affects from that, obviously a little bit sore and achy as you'd expect after a hard game like he had but it's all positive," he told rangers.co.uk.

"I said after the first time that I met him that his mental approach as well as his physical approach impressed me. He might play a part between now and the end of the season hopefully.

"I was speaking to [Ian] Durrant and he said that at the training session they had on the Sunday, he lifted it with his ability, his quality and his technique and everyone followed that which was good.

"He said that his standard was very good which followed through into the game on the Monday."