DETERMINED TO BRIDGE THE GAP
Miller won’t lose heart after defeat to Burnley
AN English Premier League outfit, newly-promoted Burnley were always going to offer Rangers their stiffest test of the summer.
But the steep step-up in quality of opposition for the Ibrox side was hammered home before a ball was even kicked as visiting manager Sean Dyche carried out his pre-match preparations.
Keen to analyse Mark Warburton’s side for weaknesses from corner kicks, Dyche trawled footage of the last two Betfred Cup games only to realise Rangers had not conceded any.
If East Stirlingshire and Stranraer hardly tested the Ibrox defence across 180 minutes, though, Burnley gave Rob Kiernan and Clint Hill a quite torrid time.
The central defensive pair were tormented by Andre Gray, a terrific forward whom Mark Warburton bought for Brentford from Luton for just £500,000 and turned into a £9million man.
Gray’s treble on Saturday was his eighth goal in five pre-season games and the first visiting hat-trick at Ibrox since Ivan Sproule for Hibs in 2005.
On an afternoon when the Rangers defence was badly exposed, perhaps the biggest positive for the audibly frustrated fans was that their team will not face a striker of Gray’s calibre next season.
To his credit, though, veteran striker Kenny Miller refused to blame the financial chasm between the top flights of England and Scotland for the disparity between the two teams.
And the 36-year-old warned a pre-season not to Rangers’ liking cannot be used as an excuse when the league kicks off for the title hopefuls against Hamilton Accies at Ibrox on Saturday.
‘Burnley aren’t a bigger club than Rangers,’ said Miller.
‘But the financial aspect of reaching the promised land of the Premier League, as Burnley have done, makes a huge difference.
‘When I played for Wolves, the play-off final was the £50million game. Now it’s the £150m game! So, that says it all.
‘But it was disappointing because when Burnley come to Ibrox, I expect to beat them.
‘I don’t care who they are or what level they play at. They’re a great team but we’ve got to have that belief and attitude and we didn’t have that. We lost soft goals, coming from turnovers in possession. ‘We always like to play against really good opposition before the season starts, whether it’s Newcastle, Man City or Burnley again last year. But there’s no doubt we would liked to have had a varying level of opposition throughout pre-season.
‘As much as we are disappointed at losing to Burnley, though, we know we are in a good place.
‘We are fit and we have had good performances, albeit against lesser opposition.
‘Now we want to start the league season well. We have a home opener coming up against Hamilton and if we want to be successful then we have to win these games.
‘Yes, you could hear (the fans) today. It’s a pre-season game and they were frustrated. But we are frustrated, too.
‘I’ve been here at Rangers long enough to and I know the demands that are placed on you to win games.
‘That’s never going to change at this football club. ‘Last year, we spoke about the lads getting to grips with what this club is about and that’s only going to intensify now we are making the step up.’ It took Burnley just four minutes to take the lead, when Hill felled Gray in the box and the striker sent Wes Foderingham the wrong way from the spot. Burnley were soon 2-0 ahead when Scott Arfield parted Kiernan and Hill too easily and Gray curled a superb finish beyond Wes Foderingham from the edge of the box.
Rangers were not laying a glove on Burnley and were restricted to shots from distance from Niko Kranjcar and Joey Barton against his old side.
At the other end, Sam Vokes nearly made it three but his shot cannoned back off the post.
After the break, Rangers fell further behind when Ben Mee’s long ball was flicked on by Lukas Jutkiewicz and Gray stole in to crack his hat-trick beyond sub goalie Matt Gilks.
As Burnley took their foot off the pedal, Rangers got a goal back when substitute Michael O’Halloran’s low cross was diverted past his own keeper Tom Heaton by Mee.
Afterwards, Warburton spoke of his hopes of getting in a new central defender before the Hamilton game but Miller feels the existing squad can hit the ground running. ‘Listen, we are ready,’ he vowed. ‘The Hamilton game is next week and we have to be ready. There’s no getting away from it. There’s no hiding place.
‘It’s up to the manager whether he feels he needs to strengthen. That’s the job the manager is paid to do.
‘But I feel the players are ready and looking forward to a full house at Ibrox next weekend for the season opener.
‘I’m confident we can bridge the gap (from coming up from the Championship to challenge for the Premiership title).
‘For me there’s only one aim and that’s to win the league. I’m as excited as I’ve been before previous seasons. It’s a new challenge for us, a big challenge.
‘The demands are the same, the expectations are the same and it will only get greater the further you progress through the season to what will hopefully be a title come the end of it.
‘Anyone who isn’t looking forward to it shouldn’t be here.’