ALLY McCoist today urged SPFL chiefs to stage the Ramsdens Cup final at the largest available venue - so as many Rangers fans as possible can attend.

The Ibrox manager was delighted his Gers team booked a place in the final thanks to a narrow 1-0 win over gutsy Stenhousemuir at Ochilview last night.

And he is overjoyed the Light Blues fans will be rewarded for their loyal backing since they dropped down to the bottom tier last year with a big day out.

However, with Hampden closed ahead of the Commonwealth Games next year, it is uncertain where the showdown with Raith Rovers next April will be held.

And the Rangers boss has expressed hope that it goes to the biggest stadium possible so many thousands of the Ibrox club's followers can attend.

He said: "I have no preferences where I would like the final to be. It is genuinely not of great concern to me.

"We have previously played finals at Hampden, Celtic Park and Ibrox. I know where I would like the final to be played (Ibrox), but I could totally understand why it wouldn't be there.

"What I would like is for as many supporters as possible to get into the stadium. That would be great."

McCoist added: "It means everything to us all. It is part of the process of hopefully returning to where we want to be. We haven't been in a final for a long, long time.

"There is certainly nobody within our club who was underestimating how important it was for us to get there. As I said before, it gives the players and the staff the opportunity to go to a final.

"It will be a great day out. More importantly, it gives the supporters a big day out which is great."

McCoist, though, was disappointed Arnold Peralta picked up a yellow card for dissent as it means the Honduran midfielder is ruled out of the final.

He said: "Unfortunately Arnold got booked. It is a big disappointment for him. But the whole object of bringing in players in is to have replacements ready."

McCoist always felt his side would struggle on the artificial pitch at Ochilview and was pleased when Jon Daly netted the winning goal in the second half.

He was also a relieved man when former Motherwell player Darren Smith missed an open goal with the scoreline tied to 0-0 before that.

He said: "It was just as difficult as I thought it would be. Until you get the first goal you are obviously concerned.

"I thought our finishing wasn't at the standard that it had been.

"We have been scoring all sorts of goals. We always feel we can create chances and score goals.

"Thankfully, we just needed one to get through. It wasn't easy. We knew Stenhousemuir would make it very difficult.

"These guys were playing for a dream final every bit as much as our guys were."

The Rangers manager continued: "The build-up to their chance was rather interesting. Thankfully, it didn't go in.

"I think it would have been a massive injustice if they had scored it.

"But I don't think that in the grand scheme of things anybody can begrudge us the victory.

"We hit the crossbar three times and I thought we might have had a penalty."