Murty insists new-look Rangers are improving

Ibrox boss upbeat ahead of clash with Partick

Rangers manager Graeme Murty claims his new-look team are close to ridding themselves of the inconsistency that has dogged their campaign.

The Light Blues have only built on back-to-back Ladbrokes Premiership wins once this season and missed another chance when they lost 2-1 at home to Hibernian on Saturday.

January signings Russell Martin, Sean Goss, Jamie Murphy, Jason Cummings and Greg Docherty all featured and Murty saw signs that his players were still learning about each other.

Goss levelled with a free-kick in the second half but Hibs regained their lead moments later after James Tavernier conceded a penalty.

“It will take time to work out everyone’s strengths and areas for development, and I thought at times in the first half against Hibs we saw that, we weren’t always in sync,” Murty said ahead of tonight’s Glasgow derby against Partick Thistle.

“But in the second half we made some really good adjustments and we could have taken at least a point or maybe three but for a crazy 10 seconds.

“It’s fine margins and the higher up the leagues you go, the more they come into play and the finer they are and the sharper you have to be in dealing with those margins.”

Rangers fans arrived at Ibrox buoyed by leaders Celtic’s defeat at Kilmarnock but they left with their team falling six points behind second-placed Aberdeen.

When pressed on the consistency levels, Murty said: “I think we’re getting there. We are not where we want to be just yet but we are moving along the right lines.

“But for four poor decisions on our part in 10 seconds right after we scored a goal, we are walking out of Ibrox with a smile on our faces and a bounce in our stride.

“But we have to react well to setbacks and from what I’ve seen on the training pitch, we are ready to do that.

“The result wasn’t what we wanted, we are hurting, we are disappointed, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. It’s not the end of the world. We have lost a game we should have won, we have a chance to get a win on Tuesday. It’s all down to how we react.”

Kenny Miller returns to the Gers squad following a hamstring injury.

There was further good news for Murty as Jordan Rossiter played 60 minutes in an under-20s win over Valencia as he bids to come back from a series of injury problems.

Ryan Jack, Ross McCrorie, Lee Wallace, Bruno Alves and Graham Dorrans remain on the sidelines.

Partick boss Alan Archibald admitted that Rangers’ defeat by Hibs will “probably not” help the Jags’ cause.

He said: “Generally when the Old Firm get beat they are usually out to prove a point. Graeme (Murty) might make changes off the back of that but we have to just worry about ourselves.

“We have ran them close and we need that one step more. Regardless of Rangers’ result at the weekend, we will concentrate on ourselves and be concentrated for the 90 minutes.”

Conor Sammon comes back into the Thistle squad. The striker missed the match against Motherwell at the weekend following a family bereavement.

Attacker Steven Lawless and defender Callum Booth are rated 50-50, while Gary Fraser, Stuart Bannigan and Christie Elliott remain on the sidelines.

Graeme Murty has called on his side to react to Hibernian defeat.