Ally McCoist has described John Souttar's Scottish Cup Final display as 'immense'.
The Scotland international featured for Hearts for the final time against his new club Rangers at Hampden last weekend as the Light Blues ran out 2-0 winners in extra-time.
Souttar was under a lot of scrutiny at the national stadium, but former Rangers boss and club hero McCoist reckons he passed his test with flying colours.
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And he just hopes he can stay fit for Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side next season.
He said: “I thought Souttar was immense, he was brilliant on Saturday.
“There were a couple of forward runs from him and I thought he defended superbly. The ball was like a magnet to his head for a period in the game.
“You’ve got to handle things when you move to Rangers and Celtic.
“It was a tough gig for him. He was under a lot of scrutiny, but I thought he came through it with flying colours.
“I’d like to have seen him play against a centre-forward, right enough!
“But, seriously, he dealt with it all so well. So did big Craig Halkett, another boy I know really well. But I think Souttar showed he’s more than up for the challenge. I just hope he stays fit.”
Connor Goldson, Allan McGregor and Steven Davis are three experienced players heading out of contract at Rangers.
Ever-present Goldson looks to have played his last game for the club with an agreement not reached over extended terms.
Davis - who has interest from Motherwell - is out of contract, but McCoist believes he has another year in him to go again.
While McGregor at the age of 40 may be ready to hang up his gloves, but Coisty had just one word to describe his contribution to Rangers.
He added: “I don’t know what will happen with Greegsy. He’ll make his own mind up.
“But you’d definitely think they’ll be offering Connor Goldson something.
“Steven Davis, over these last two games against Eintracht Frankfurt and Hearts, looks like he’s got another year in him.
“I think we get a little bit caught up in age sometimes rather than performance. If you take age out of the equation, his performances warrant another year.
“Davo certainly looks like he could play on.
“Greegsy might not fancy it, he may have had enough.
“How do you sum up his contribution? Phenomenal.
“Rangers have had some unbelievable goalkeepers in the past. There’s Chris Woods, Andy Goram, Stefan Klos and now McGregor, who is up there with all of them.
“I get asked all the time, ‘Who’s the best, Goram or McGregor?’ But it’s the most unfair question of all time.
“I played with Goram, who was fantastic, but McGregor is out of this world and his performances and contribution over these last few years have been unbelievable.
“Connor is interesting. I know they’ve offered him something and it will be interesting to see what happens.
"But from Rangers’ point of view I think it would be great if he stayed as he is a really good player.”
