We HAD a really good friendly up against Rangers last week.

Speaking to Steven Gerrard and his assistant Gary McAllister before the game, they told me they'd be putting out an under-23/first team fringe for the first 45 mins and then the first team for the second half.

We did really well for the first half and came in at the break having gone 1-0 up. It was end-to-end and was a good counter-attacking performance.

The second half was tough for us because our lads were tired and we could only make the changes available to us whereas they were able to bring out a full side.

Our lads were really tried but that's what it was. It was at 2pm in the afternoon and it was absolutely roasting with our lads working really hard.

It was a fantastic experience for us to not only play a big team, but the way we pressed them, worked hard against them and how we did.

It was perfect preparation for last night's Champions League game. I told the lads to keep their heads up after the game because while we didn't have the ball like we're used to, it was great to see how we could defend against a team who beat League Two Bury by six on Friday.