Ally McCoist praises ‘out of this world’ Steven Davis

The Rangers legend was quick to sing the praises of the veteran midfielder after he produced an influential showing as the Ibrox side dumped their neighbours out of the Scottish Cup and advanced to the quarter-final stage.

This included a terrific opening goal where Davis beat keeper Scott Bain with an overhead kick.

McCoist said on Premier Sports: “I thought he was out of this world today. I honestly did.

“The goal was special, but I think he just controlled everything: he was in those little pockets, picking everything up.

"It’s incredible with the season he’s had and he continues to go strong for Northern Ireland, where he’s the most capped player in Britain.

“It might have been harsh not giving man-of-the-match to Nathan Patterson because he was fantastic. But I just don’t think you could overlook Davis’ performance.”

Gers boss Steven Gerrard was full of praise for 19-year-old right-back Patterson and also hailed central defenders Connor Goldson and Filip Helander for nullifying the threat of Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard.

“If there is a better right back in the country on form, I would like to see it,” he said of Patterson.

“He emptied the tank for us today and his performance was outstanding. He has become a man in a short space of time.

“They (Goldson and Helander) were both solid. Edouard is a top player who’s had a lot of joy and success here.

"You have to be at your best to handle him. That was the responsibility and challenge we gave those two and I thought they stood up to it.

“They used their arms well, they kept him facing his own goal. He had one or two moments, but he is always going to because he’s a top player.

“If you are to beat Celtic, you have to control Edouard and thankfully over the course of the 90 minutes we did enough.”

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