Rangers boss served with reality check - 'there’s a bit of realism in the air with that result'

Rangers manager Michael Beale can't hide his disappointment following defeat at Kilmarnock.

Brad Lyons’ second-half strike proved to be decisive as the Ibrox side lost their opening top-flight fixture for the first time in 25 years. Beale felt his team had controlled a “stuffy” contest on a difficult pitch but acknowledged they hadn’t created sufficient chances while also losing a poor goal at the other end.

The Rangers manager said: “We had 18 attempts at goal but I can’t remember the Kilmarnock goalkeeper being troubled enough. And in a game like that when it’s stuffy, when we’re struggling to create clear-cut chances, you can’t concede a goal like we did. It’s bitterly disappointing for the players and staff but ultimately for the fans who have been excited in the summer. So there’s a bit of realism in the air with that result.

“We didn’t get beat by any moments of quality. It wasn’t as if we didn’t have the possession of the ball. The stats will prove all that. We just didn’t find a way to score. That’s the work for us to do – for me and these players to do quickly. But I don’t think anyone was caught unawares by the type of game it was. I just thought Kilmarnock got under our skin, they worked extremely hard, they defended very, very well in the box and they didn’t make a mistake like we did. At the end of the first half we’d one or two moments. You have to take those moments when they come.”

Beale started five of his summer signings and brought another, Danilo, off the bench but didn’t want to use that lack of familiarity as an excuse. He added: “I don’t want to go down that road because it seems like a cop-out. I thought Kilmarnock played well and we looked stuffy at times. They’re quality players, we’ve had five weeks together, there are a lot of new players coming in but we had enough players on the pitch today who know what this is about.”