Tuesday 2 August 2016 18:29, UK
Mark Warburton says defeat to Burnley in pre-season was "a really important learning curve" for Rangers ahead of the Premiership campaign.
The Englishman held a lengthy inquest over the 3-1 defeat at Ibrox on Saturday after his side's defensive frailties were exposed as the Clarets breezed into a 2-0 lead before half-time thanks to an Andre Gray double.
He completed his hat-trick 10 minutes into the second half with Ben Mee's late own goal a consolation for the home side.
Despite that, Warburton says the friendly was a valuable learning experience ahead of their Scottish Premiership campaign, which gets underway against Hamilton on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 1.
"We said we needed more games like that and ideally we would have had two or three games of that quality, another English Premier League team or top Championship side or an in form European side," Warburton told the club's official website.
"They are the types of tests you need to have to prepare yourself for a tough season ahead and Burnley was a really important learning curve for us.
"We said before the game, maximise this fixture in all aspects and make sure we learn from it and get better for it. The analysis was really important for us and there will be more and then we will focus on Hamilton.
"Don't forget what you're facing, and this isn't to put ourselves down in any shape or form, but in my opinion Andre Gray is a £20-25m striker, the market would say £15m but if he moves at all he will move for more.
"You look at Michael Keane and, as Sean Dyche quite rightly said, he is a £25m defender. They had top-quality Premier League players and we have to learn from that and as a team they pressed high and their intensity was evident throughout."
Despite some sloppy defending, Warburton was keen to take the positives from the friendly fixture and does not feel it was quite as harsh a lesson as he initially thought.
"We had good spells of play and we look at the game and the penalty is not one in my mind but it changes the game after three minutes and the second goal is offside," he said. "This is not in the way of making excuses but these are fine margins that exist at this level of play.
"I went in at half-time thinking we were the worst side and Burnley were far stronger but then you watch the game three times, without the crowd sound, and you realise they have had two chances.
"There are lots of positives out of the game but we have to recognise that we conceded two sloppy goals and I don't want to see that."
