Thursday 2 February 2017 17:49, UK
Mark Warburton has dismissed questions over Rangers’ mentality away from home against their nearest rivals following their 4-1 loss to Hearts.
The Gers were dominated at Tynecastle on Wednesday night, which was Hearts' second commanding win over Warburton's side in Edinburgh this season, while they also lost on their travels to Celtic and Aberdeen earlier in the campaign.
Rangers also lost all four matches away from home against the two teams immediately below them in the Championship last season, Hibernian and Falkirk, but Warburton denied mentality was an issue.
When asked about it at his news conference ahead of the visit of Ross County to Ibrox on Saturday, Warburton said: "You mean are we worried about going to those grounds? Not at all, absolutely not. I don't understand that question one iota.
"I don't think there is a problem with big games. I don't see it as a big problem. We went to Aberdeen and I felt dominated and should have won the game.
"We have gone to all these various other venues, Inverness, Partick, Dundee, Motherwell, we have won games of football very convincingly. The Parkhead game was well documented. Hearts, we had two bad performances, it's as simple as that.
"Whether you play the top of the table or the bottom of the table, it's three points. You don't get five for beating someone and two for beating someone else. So the fact we are sitting second in the table tells you we are doing some things okay. We have to improve, of course we do, but the fact is the team is growing and we are learning."
However, Warburton did admit his side needed to respond better to setbacks and lamented the goals which he felt were gifted to Hearts early in each half on Wednesday.
"We have gone through it with the group and goals change games," he said. "We gifted them a goal after three minutes, we have gifted them a second goal four minutes into the second half, and it makes a huge impact.
"We played poorly for half an hour, finished the half strongly, get the equaliser, should have gone 2-1 up and we're confident at half-time. And we concede a goal four minutes in. Simple as that.
"Goals change games, at whatever level you play at. The fact of the matter is, goals change games and we have to respond to it. What could we do better? Possibly respond to conceding. That's a point we spoke about.
"If you look at Motherwell, a man being sent off, for the next five or six minutes we lost our composure somewhat. We got it back quickly and all credit to the players for that. But we have to recognise that negative incidents, how do we respond and can we be immediately better?"
Rangers beat Aberdeen at Ibrox immediately after their first defeat at Tynecastle this season and Warburton demanded a similar reaction.
"We had a bad result at Tynecastle and won the next four games and went second in the league," he said. "We had a bad performance last night. If it's a bad performance once every eight then we have to improve that.
"But the fact is we had a good run of games at a consistent level of performance and last night fell below it, plain and simple. As with the last time, you put your hand up and say 'it's unacceptable, must be better'.
"What we have to do now is welcome Ross County and deliver a commanding performance."
