Critics fired us up, says Warburton

MARK WARBURTON hailed Rangers for bouncing back yesterday after what he claimed was ‘disrespectful’ criticism of his team following their League Cup exit to St Johnstone. The Ibrox boss was delighted as a first-ever senior hat-trick for striker Martyn Waghorn and another goal from free-scoring full-back James Tavernier secured a 4-0 win over Morton at Cappielow. His Championship leaders are now nine points clear of nearest challengers Falkirk, who visit Ibrox next Saturday, and Warburton revealed the biggest motivation for his players was hitting back at criticism from unnamed pundits and the media following the first defeat of his reign. ‘My players were riled by some of the comments,’ said

the 53-year-old ex-Brentford boss. ‘Were they hurt? Yes I would say they were. It was a little bit disrespectful. They’ve now played 13 games and won 12. Everyone loses a game of football. We’ll learn from it. ‘I just thought some of the comments were a little bit over the top considering we had lost one game of football. ‘I know Jim Duffy would have prepared his Morton team accordingly, but my players were ready for whatever the challenge was going to be today. ‘There was no doubt we were going to go out and start well. It was a very pleasing performance and a good result.’ Warburton also warned Championship defences that the best is yet to come from Waghorn after his treble made it 14 goals for the Englishman in just 13 appearances. There was praise, too, for on-loan Spurs winger Nathan Oduwa who, in a minor incident, appeared to react towards Morton fans who seemed to be accusing him of going down easily to win free-kicks for his team. ‘Martyn will keep getting better and better,’ said Warburton. ‘Everyone says he’s not a prolific scorer but he’s doing alright so far this season. ‘He just needed to play football at the clubs he has been at previously. He had too many 10 minutes here and there at his last team (Wigan) and, I believe that the more he plays, the better he’ll get. ‘His aim is to be the best he can be every day and, if he does that, he will get goals. But we have a lot of talent in the squad. Nathan Oduwa was very good today. He’ll learn from that and will learn from the thing with the crowd on the far side. But he was very, very good today.’ Morton boss Duffy, meanwhile, was angry that Ross Forbes dived in on Oduwa to give Rangers an early penalty, but admitted his side were outclassed by the Ibrox outfit. ‘Before today, Rangers had already had six penalties this season, so I warned my players not to dive in — but we dived in and gave away a penalty. ‘But Rangers were terrific. They had a bit of criticism after the midweek game and you could see that fired them up. ‘They were relentless for the rest of the first half but I’m pleased we never threw in the towel. We were as organised as we could be, but we were up against a side whose movement and imagination was outstanding, which is why they are now nine points clear of second place. ‘You must applaud Rangers’ style of football because it’s very pleasing on the eye — providing you’re not the Morton manager.’