In today’s relentless race for clicks, you will often see articles online after matches entitled ‘five things we learned’. Although Rangers certainly enjoyed their day out in Linfield as they helped themselves to seven goals without reply - including four in a blistering seven minute spell in the first half – you would be hard-pushed to glean five worthwhile nuggets of information from the exercise that will help their manager Mark Warburton ahead of next weekend’s Old Firm derby.

If nothing else though, the testimonial for Windsor Park stalwart Jamie Mulgrew did present a good chance for the Rangers manager to give some of his ring-rusty players and those returning from injury a much-needed run-out, and they came through it with some style.

Philippe Senderos made his bow in a Rangers jersey, and he was untroubled in the hour he played. It is difficult to gauge if the test posed by David Healy’s side was sufficient preparation for the big defender to face Leigh Griffiths et al next weekend, but it would have been encouraging for his manager nonetheless.

Warburton has no fears about pitching the giant Swiss defender into the heat of next week’s battle, believing him to be the type of big-game player who will relish the occasion.

“He was comfortable,” Warburton said after the match, making quite the understatement. “He has dealt with training effortlessly and has a good physicality. It was great for him to get an hour under his belt. He looked very assured and he’s an option for us next weekend, absolutely.

“We had to look at Philippe, he hadn’t played since early June but he dealt with that effortlessly. He has great technical ability, and is very comfortable on the ball. He needed match practice and strolled through the hour.

“You could say he wasn’t over-tested but he did everything he had to do with aplomb and with another good week of training he will absolutely be in contention for Celtic.

“I would have no qualms about putting him in whatsoever. You don’t play at the level he has and with the clubs he has, without that level of expertise. We have him, Rob (Kiernan), Danny (Wilson) and Clint (Hill) and we’ll choose two from four.”

Similarly pleasing for the Rangers boss would have been the run-outs for Josh Windass and Martyn Waghorn, who both got game-time to increase the available options for next week’s match.

The most intriguing of those may well be the return of the powerful midfield running of Windass, who got in behind the Linfield defence on multiple occasions and gave the Rangers engine-room a new dynamic, a fact not lost on four-goal forward Miller.

"Josh Windass gives you that threat from the middle of the park that we have potentially been missing over the past few weeks,” Miller said.

“For me, I think Josh stood out with his movement and his forward running. He is a young lad coming from a lower league in England, so he has a lot to learn, but you can see the attributes he has got already. He is a real goal threat from the middle of the park and could have had two or three himself today.

“He is Lampard-esque with those late runs into the box and getting on the end of crosses, so the attributes are there for all to see. When you have someone doing that, it is hard to defend. It is always going to be a thorn in the opposition’s side.”

In less positive news for Rangers, Warburton revealed after the match that Joe Dodoo will be out for four to six weeks after twisting his ankle at Kilmarnock, making the timing of Waghorn’s return all the more opportune.

Defender Wilson should be fit though after picking up a calf injury in the same game, while Jason Holt may make the substitute’s bench.

Captain Lee Wallace, who pulled out of the Scotland squad injured and joined his team-mates in Belfast should also be ready for the match, although the extent of the injury picked up by Jordan Rossiter on international duty is still unclear.

“[Lee] will be OK,” said Warburton. “The Scotland medical team were very good. It was precautionary. He wasn’t right to train and if he wasn’t right to train he wasn’t right to play and travel.

“He’s very keen to get into the international set up, there is no lack of desire from his part but it was the right thing to do."

The game itself was a turkey shoot. Rangers were slick and passed the ball around well on a greasy surface, and no doubt the fluidity of their play and attacking threat will have buoyed the mood in the camp.

They were five up after half-an-hour with Miller getting his hat-trick and Rob Kiernan side-footing in from close-range. The second goal was the stand-out moment of the match though, as Niko Krancjar dropped a shoulder to beat his man before looking up and curling an absolute peach of a shot into Roy Carroll’s top right-hand corner. The Croat was a joy to watch all afternoon.

Miller had another shortly after the re-start, finishing a nice move with a composed finish.

Joe Garner, who had come off after 10 minutes with a head knock only to reappear bandaged up in the second half, added the seventh late on after Michael O’Halloran latched on to a beautiful Krancjar pass to tee him up at the back post.