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Derek McInnes revealed his contrasting feelings during his first win as Rangers boss in the 5-1 Premier Sports Cup win over St Mirren at Ibrox. Failure to win any of his first four fixtures had the Gers boss already under pressure which alleviated through first-half goals from striker Ryan Naderi and midfielder Vanja Dragojevic in 18 minutes. However, Saints’ Chris Mochrie reduced the deficit on the half-hour mark with a terrific drive which subdued the excitement. But Rangers stretched away in the second half with two goals in two minutes from Djeidi Gassama and debutant James Penrice and after Gers keeper Ivor Pandur saved a twice-taken penalty from midfielder Killian Phillips, substitute Ross McCausland made it five against the cup holders to seal a place in the quarter-final draw where they will face Celtic at home. McInnes said: “I probably enjoyed it the first time being manager of Rangers for a period in the first half – and then we lost the goal and I didn’t enjoy it again. “But I’m just glad to get a win. “There’s no better feeling when you’re involved in professional football than a winning dressing room. My players need to feel that. “It’s my job and the staff’s job to try and instil confidence, which isn’t always easy here when things aren’t going right. “But I just think that you’ve got to keep working through it, do the basics right, stick together, work even harder if you can and put the work in and hopefully you get your reward. “The players have got their reward today, and in turn that makes me happier. “I think having a winning dressing room and how it was at the end there will do the new boys no harm, it will do us all no harm.” McInnes was delighted with the performance of Penrice, signed on loan from Greek side AEK Athens as the Gers’ 10th summer recruit. He said: “I thought his performance was as strong a debut you’ve seen for a long time. A goal, so many assists. “But actually, it’s not so much that side of it, because I know what quality he’s got, but it’s just the way he played the game. Just real enthusiasm and a desire to go and ask the question, be positive in possession. “Hopefully that rubs off a wee bit, that sort of enthusiasm.” After winning their first two William Hill Premiership fixtures, it was back to earth for St Mirren boss Craig McLeish. He said: “I’m disappointed with the scoreline and the nature in which we go out of the competition. “We were on the receiving end of Rangers being ruthless in front of goal and there were key moments in the game that maybe don’t quite go in our favour. “We are trying to build something here, and build belief and confidence in our group, with how we are trying to play. “But I think it took us until we were 2-0 down before we really started showing that. “I thought we did well to get back into the game and go in 2-1 down at half-time. “There were good moments within the game but, when you come away to Rangers, moments aren’t good enough to get you through. “We have to learn from it. We’re early in what we’re trying to do with our group. “This is the biggest test we have faced and we can only use this to learn from and keep improving.”