Michael Beale: Todd Cantwell is blending talent with hard work at Rangers

Michael Beale is delighted to see Todd Cantwell reveal his graft as well as his guile since signing for Rangers.

The 25-year-old midfielder, signed from Norwich in the January transfer window, has made an encouraging start his Ibrox career and turned in a fine performance in Saturday’s 3-1 home cinch Premiership win over Kilmarnock.

Cantwell’s flair and creativity has always been acknowledged and already demonstrated since his move north of the border but Gers boss Beale also highlighted his work rate.

Ahead of the trip to Easter Road to play Lee Johnson’s rejuvenated Hibernian side on Wednesday night, the Ibrox manager said: “I’ve been delighted with Todd, everything about him coming.

“He hasn’t played a lot of football but one thing with Todd is, he is super fit and he covers a lot of distances.

“I think you’re seeing some things that maybe you weren’t aware of with Todd in terms of his work ethic and his willingness to win the ball back.

“I think he’s a very interesting player close to the number nine.

“But I also think he’s a very interesting player a little bit deeper on the pitch, certainly when playing against a low block because I think he’s able to bring the ball and connect the midfield and the forwards so I’m absolutely delighted with him.”

Hibs looked strong in beating Livingston 4-1 at the Tony Macaroni Arena on Saturday and sit in fourth place in the table – five points behind Edinburgh rivals Hearts – after winning three in a row to extend their unbeaten run to five matches.

Rangers remain nine points behind Celtic at the top of the table and, while they recently lost the ViaPlay Cup final to their Old Firm rivals at Hampden Park, they have not lost a league game since St Johnstone beat them 2-1 at McDiarmid Park in November.

Beale, whose first game as Gers boss was a 3-2 win over the Easter Road side at Ibrox on December 15, said: “I think that they’re going very well. The best part of their season, after a few difficult weeks before that.

“They’ve been in fine form and they got a good result at the weekend.

“I think they’ve got good players and we’ll have to put in a strong performance on Wednesday night because we’re going there for three points and I think they’ll come for us.

“They’ll try to beat us and I think it makes for an intriguing game.”