NATURAL buoyancy and instinctive thrashing are usually enough to keep a youngster afloat when thrown into the deep end Scott Wilson may feel tonight, however, that he has been chucked in wearing concrete boots.

The 19-year-old central defender will make his debut for Rangers against Ajax in the Champions' League match at Ibrox, a testament to the dishevelment of Walter Smith's squad through injury and suspension. When Wilson looks to his right, he will see Greg Shields, a 20-year-old with only two previous first-team outings, on the defensive flank.

It is unlikely they will have much chance to exchange impressions during 90 minutes that are expected to keep them extremely busy. Even Brian Laudrup, who will captain Rangers in the absence of the suspended Richard Gough, did not offer the Scottish champions' followers much hope of taking their first point from what has been a calamitous series so far in Group A.

"The way things are," said Laudrup, "anything other than victory for Ajax will come as a surprise to most people. But sometimes the better team doesn't win and we have to try to make that the case in this match."

Logic dictates that the Dutch should leave Glasgow with another victory in the ledger. They were judged by their fans and the local media to have performed only moderately when they beat Rangers 4-1 at the Amsterdam Arena two weeks ago.

Now, they are strengthened by the return of Patrick Kluivert to the forward line the Portuguese, Dani, twice a scorer in the first match, is not even with them while Rangers are diminished by the suspension of Paul Gascoigne, Gough, Alex Cleland and Craig Moore.

It was also learned yesterday that Tijani Babangida and Marc Overmars, who generally terrorised the Scots in Amsterdam, will be fit to play, despite injury doubts expressed by coach Louis van Gaal on their arrival on Monday In case one of them is not available, van Gaal flew another gifted youngster, Dave van den Bergh, over from Holland yesterday as cover.