THE plans had to be changed. It was the alterations to the blueprint that were the most enlightening and interesting factors at Ibrox, though.

This friendly with HJK Helsinki, agreed as part of the deal which brought striker Alfredo Morelos to Glasgow last season, was always going to be a low-key affair on a cold Sunday afternoon.

It turned out to be an important one for Steven Gerrard and his players, however, as Rangers returned to action a little later than originally scheduled following the winter break.

Debuts were handed to Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis following their arrivals earlier in the month, while Gerrard was able to mix and match his personnel and his approach as he prepares for the second half of the campaign.

The postponement of their Scottish Cup clash with Cowdenbeath on Friday night ultimately denied some of those on the fringes of Gerrard’s squad a longer run-out against the Finnish champions.

But the performance and the result – a 3-2 win earned thanks to goals from Scott Arfield, Nikola Katic and Daniel Candeias – were largely irrelevant here. This was a match that served its purpose, but its importance shouldn’t be overstated.

Gerrard had it in mind to field an experienced starting line-up at Central Park last week but the freezing temperatures and solid surface kept Rangers in cold storage. The visit of Helsinki, then, came at an opportune moment.

"We have obviously had to adapt the original plan which was to go strong against Cowdenbeath on Friday night,” Gerrard said.

"We were going to use the lads who didn't get minutes at Cowdenbeath and have a look at some of the younger lads as well.

"With the game being called off, we decided Saturday's training session and the first 45 minutes here were important to get minutes into the lads' legs. It's actually been very beneficial that the friendly was in place.”

The feelgood factor from the Old Firm win at Ibrox last month has kept a smile on supporters’ faces during the winter break but Gerrard won’t allow his players to get ahead of themselves as they enter a potentially defining run of fixtures this term.

The captures of Defoe and Davis were seen as a sign of intent from Rangers as Gerrard added quality and nous to his ranks and both got a run-out against Helsinki before the entire team was switched at the break.

Rangers have lined-up in a 4-3-3 formation more often than not this term but Gerrard now has options and alternatives and it was no surprise to see Defoe partner Alfredo Morelos in attack on his first start in Light Blue.

The system saw Ryan Kent shift from the left flank to a more central area, while Davis joined Arfield and Ryan Jack in the middle of the park for the first 45 minutes.

"It looks dangerous - they are two good players,” Gerrard said of his new strike partnership of Defoe and Morelos. "They seem to like playing together.

“Having Jermain here gives us that option, and having Kyle Lafferty as well.

"It gives us the opportunity to play a different system if we want to. We can play 3-5-2 or a diamond in midfield or 4-4-2.

"It gives me and the staff more options to keep opposition teams guessing. The early signs are really positive.”

There were reasons to be optimistic for Gerrard as Rangers got back up and running but the 38-year-old will know this outing matters little in the grand scheme of things.

The move that saw Arfield open the scoring was neat as the midfielder collected a pass from Morelos and slid the ball into the corner of Maksim Rudakov’s net.

The keeper could do little as Katic powered home a header early in the second half but he was at fault for the decisive goal as a misplaced pass found Candeias and the Portuguese fired in from the edge of the area.

It was that effort 15 minutes from time that ultimately proved the difference as Helsinki were beaten despite twice drawing level through Kevin Kouassivi-Benissan and Lassi Lappalainen.

"I was pleased with the performance in the first half,” Gerrard said. “When we had the ball, I thought we looked very dangerous going forward.

"Having two forwards on the pitch allowed us to cause them problems. We created more chances to score.

"I was disappointed with us our of possession. I thought we were at testimonial pace.

"We were a yard off the pace, a bit slow and not going into tackles with the intensity we showed here three weeks ago.

"But I'm not going to criticise the players because they had a really strong session on Saturday.”

Victory here was certainly pleasing for Rangers but it is on Wednesday night where they will discover if their efforts in training and at Ibrox have paid dividends.

A trip to Kilmarnock is far from the easiest way to return to competitive action but that is the task that now awaits Gerrard’s side as they look to pick up where they left off in the Premiership.

Having done the hard work against Celtic and then put in the hours in recent days, the Gers must now up their efforts once again at Rugby Park.

“I think you will see a lot more intensity, a lot more purpose and energy about our performance on Wednesday because we will have two really light days now going into that,” Gerrard said.

“Yesterday we hit six or seven kilometres in the training session and really pushed them because we wanted to get game distance into them over yesterday and today and we have managed to do that.

“We will come off them now and hopefully be full of energy, intensity and aggression come Wednesday because that is how I like to play.”