A beautiful setup by midfielder Lewis McLeod to feed Nicky Law was all famed Scottish club Rangers FC needed to down Ottawa Fury FC 1-0 Wednesday night.

McLeod managed to keep control of the ball as he nailed a perfect spin move before firing the ball to Law, who put a pinpoint shot by Ottawa goalkeeper Romuald Peiser. He had no chance on the shot.

While Ottawa was shut out for the third match in a row going back to the spring season, it was also a match where both sides experimented with their lineup, getting in some necessary tinkering in a game where no points were on the line.

Fury coach Marc Dos Santos obviously wasn't thrilled with stretches of the game, calling it a decent "training session" but not liking what he saw tactically.

"​At the end of the day I think, overall, the most important thing for us was to give minutes to every player," Dos Santos said.

Notable among them was the debut of Fury Academy standout Jacob Schroeter, as the 17-year-old was a late-game substitution.

"We send a message regarding how serious we are about our academy," Dos Santos of giving the teenager a few minutes of action. "We wanted to give an opportunity to a kid that's done very well at the youth level. Jacob just deserved to have a couple of minutes."​

Not everyone was disappointed with the final result though, as it was what a large number of the 8,564 in attendance at TD Place wanted. Rangers FC has the most international support of any other domestic club and that passion was on display Wednesday, with many fans clad in blue to cheer on the Scottish side.

Ottawa played a solid game in stretches, controlling possession early but started giving the Rangers too much space on the counter, which is what led to Law's goal in the 38th minute.

Ottawa had a glorious chance to tie the game in the 52nd minute as striker Vini Dantas got around Rangers defender Bilel Mohsni and got in all alone but got a bad shot off that went wide of the net behind keeper Cameron Bell.

But really, this one wasn't about the result.

Though both coaches said leading up to the game they were going out there looking for the win, Wednesday night was more about the experience -- for coaches, players and fans.

The North American tour also represents training camp for Rangers FC, meaning manager Ally McCoist placed a greater emphasis on fine tuning his own squad than worrying about the final result.

Still, the veteran manager did his homework on Fury FC before arriving in the capital.

"We know that they're a relatively new side, of course," McCoist said Wednesday after his squad trained at TD Place, saying his team had reviewed video and studied the Fury players. "We'll treat our opposition with the utmost respect. At the same time, I won't lie to you, in preseason games we do tend to generally concentrate more on our own side."

But the legendary former Rangers player-turned-coach promised the fans would enjoy the show.

McCoist was also impressed with TD Place itself and the greeting he, his staff and players had received in Ottawa, tying the opening of the new stadium to an upswing in soccer interest in North America.

"It's beautiful, it really is," he said. "I think it's synonymous with what's going on in North America. I just think the game's taking off again. The facility here in Ottawa is wonderful, you look at what they're doing down in Toronto (and) I'm generally just thrilled with what's happening in North America.

"It's great to see Ottawa's certainly not falling behind anything but are leading by example with an absolutely first-class stadium."

The tour in North America is an important step for Rangers FC in its quest to return to the Scottish Premier League and connect with their massive base of fans outside of the UK. Despite being the winningest team in worldwide domestic soccer, Rangers FC ended up demoted to the third tier of Scottish soccer after financial issues forced the team into liquidation.

With the last few years having been so tough, McCoist didn't hesitate when asked about the significance of the trip through Ottawa.

"I hope it's very significant," he said. "We're aware of the fact we have a tremendous fan base over here. (To be) coming and spreading the gospel again, if you like, to places like Ottawa is just great. It's a great opportunity for us to come to a new club in Ottawa, but also for our fans to see us in the flesh again."

Dos Santos kept to his plan of giving each of Marcel DeBellis, Romuald Peiser and Chad Bush time in goal, which each playing a third of the match. After sitting out all but the first match of the spring season with a knee injury, Nicki Paterson also made his return to the lineup in the second half.

chris.hofley@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @chrishofley

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