Holt says Rangers set new benchmark

Midfielder claims defeat of Killie was Ibrox men’s best

JASON HOLT agreed last night with his manager Mark Warburton’s assertion that the 3-0 home win over Kilmarnock brought Rangers’ best football of the season — and warned his team-mates that the bar has now been set for the remainder of the campaign.

Results elsewhere allowed the Ibrox side to move into second place in the league, nine points behind leaders Celtic having played a game more, after a Lee Wallace goal, an Andy Halliday penalty and a second-half effort from Joe Garner delivered a return of more than two goals in one game for the first time on Premiership duty.

Holt insists a strong display was crucial in the wake of defeat to Celtic in the Betfred Cup semi-final and a 1-1 midweek home draw with St Johnstone which resulted in Warburton’s side being booed off the pitch.

However, Holt (right) has made it clear that the intensity cannot be allowed to drop as Rangers endeavour to make up for their disappointing start. ‘I probably agree it was our best performance over the 90 minutes, in general, with the tempo of the play and the passing movements,’ he said. ‘It was a big disappointment in midweek, particularly the second-half performance, so it was important we bounced back. You could see from the start that we wanted to create chances and get in positions to score and that kind of set the tone.

‘It is nice to be in second place, but we want to kick on. We will look forward to Sunday at Ross County. I think the standard has been set now and we cannot let that drop.’

Warburton has also made it clear to his players that they have to show the same degree of purpose on a regular basis after putting Kilmarnock on the back foot from the opening seconds of the game.

‘They have to maintain it,’ stated the Ibrox manager. ‘We have always spoken about consistency of

performance. If we can maintain that tempo, playing the ball forward and not backwards and square, it will be positive.

‘You have got to have forward options and, today, the boys on the ball had four or five options, so I was pleased with the afternoon’s work.

‘We started off really well with a real statement of intent.

‘We wanted to be dynamic, we wanted to be positive in our decisionmaking and we got the early chances straight away.

‘When we lost the ball, we reacted very quickly to get it back and win it high up the park. We knew Lee (Clark) would look to galvanise them at halftime and we wanted to come out, get on the ball and score the next goal, which we did really early.’

Michael O’Halloran kept his place in the side and played an important role with his pace and direct running.

‘People always watch players on the ball, but what we have to do as coaches is watch their work off the ball and Michael has worked really hard in training to look at what we want as a team,’ Warburton added.

‘He’s got some fantastic attributes. He’s quick, he’s direct and really purposeful on the ball. He’s been patient and did very well.’

Kilmarnock travelled to Ibrox on a three-game unbeaten run, but failed to make any impression.

Boss Lee Clark (above) said: ‘It was nowhere near where we’ve been in the last three games.

‘It was disappointing and quite similar to (the 6-1 defeat at) Celtic in that we’ve been very passive.

‘We allowed Rangers, by letting them have a shot within 30 seconds, to gain momentum. I need to find a solution in terms of whether I am trying to take on these teams with the type of personnel I have on the pitch, and leaving ourselves too open early in the game.’