A goal and an assist against the third best team in Scotland isn’t a bad way for Alex Lowry to finish his season as he led his B team team-mates to an impressive 3-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle at the weekend.
The game had an understandable pre-season friendly feel to it given it had little relevance other than to give players minute for various reasons but the way in which our current crop of academy prospects handled themselves augurs well for the immediate and long-term future.
Front and centre was of course Lowry and, bizarrely, it says it all about his ability and status that Aaron Ramsey had to make do with playing second fiddle behind the 18-year old, there was an almost uncanny father and son like resemblance in the way that the pair interchanged passes both in terms of style, weight and precision – a comparison as ridiculous as it is accurate though.
If there were any doubts about Lowry’s ability to have an impact next season then they were surely put to bed by the way he beat the Scottish writer’s player of the year with Rangers second goal of the afternoon, a deft shift of the ball to the outside allowing him to stroke the ball round Craig Gordon leaving him with no chance.
The quality of the goal was one thing, how easy he made it look was another altogether.
With Joe Aribo said to be attracting interest from down south, we could see the first textbook example of how our player trading model should work: buy low, develop, sell, replace with academy player.
If they are good enough, they are old enough and Lowry has been one of the best players – if not the best – every time he has pulled on the famous blue shirt for the first-team, the future’s bright, the future could well be wearing orange next season.