Rangers must harness Josh Windass' Premier League pace, says Graeme Murty

Josh Windass scored in Rangers' win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie

The pace of Josh Windass was a big factor in Rangers beating Aberdeen twice in four days, says interim manager Graeme Murty.

English midfielder Windass scored Rangers' second goal in Sunday's 2-1 win at Pittodrie.

"The pace he can get to, we need to harness that," said Murty.

"If you look at his stats, if you look at his data, the amount of ground he covers at high speed is up with the top in the English Premier League."

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Murty has given 23-year-old Windass, who joined Rangers from Accrington Stanley in 2016, a more attacking role since taking over following the sacking of Pedro Caixinha.

"He's got some fantastic assets, some brilliant attributes," the caretaker boss told Rangers' website.

"We need to take away anything away that's clouding his mind and clouding his judgement and just let him go and be Josh.

"If that means giving him a freer role towards the top of pitch then I think it works because you look at the amount of times he makes up ground and puts defenders under pressure and they make mistakes because he is there and they are scared of his pace.

"We've managed to do it in the last couple of games, but it is up to Josh to reach those standards all the time."

David Bates (right) returned to Rangers' starting line-up on Sunday

Murty also praised the performance of David Bates, who came into the side because of a training-ground injury to Portugal centre-half Bruno Alves.

The 21-year-old was delighted to make his first appearance since July.

"It has been tough," he said. "I was out at the start of the season for 10 weeks and getting back to fitness and sharpness.

"Coming into a big game like this - three points behind Aberdeen - it was brilliant to come up here and get the win.

"Getting those three points is massive. We go above them now and the display the boys put in is immense."

Murty has won four out of six matches, taking Rangers up to second in the Premiership, with Bates saying the coach had given the team an "unbelievable lift".

"The boys are playing for him every week," he said. "He's done a brilliant job."