Lawrence Shankland insists there were positive takeaways from Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat to Hibernian, which left Rangers fans raging at more dropped William Hill Premiership points.
In Derek McInnes’s first home game as Gers boss, Hibs took the lead in the 12th minute with a Josh Campbell penalty before Rangers forward Youssef Chermiti, subject to a failed bid by Galatasaray for a reported club record fee of £22million, was taken away on a stretcher after picking up an impact injury.
The Light Blues dominated and levelled in the 85th minute through a Miguel Chaiwa own goal but in added time Hibs broke and substitute Callum Wright’s deflected shot gave David Gray’s side a stunning victory to leave McInnes with no wins in his first three matches.
However, Rangers captain Shankland, a boyhood Gers fan who signed from Hearts in the summer and who turned 31 on Monday, said: “I think the biggest thing that went wrong is we never won.
“Performance-wise, the amount of chances we created, the amount cleared off the line, we hit the bar, there was enough moments there for us to take encouragement in terms of we’re trying to do the right thing to win the game.
“The biggest thing, obviously, you are judged here on results; I totally understand that. But if you look at the goals and you look at what happened in the game, the amount of moments we had, as I said, I think there was only one team that looked like they were actually going to win it.
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"So that’s the frustrating part. But for their side, it’s a smash and grab, and they’ll be happy with that.”
The Ibrox men are already five points behind Celtic and St Mirren after only two William Hill fixtures and Gers fans, irked by the slow build-up at times during the game, booed at full-time.
Scotland striker Shankland said: “I understand it. I’ve been a fan, I’ve been in stands before, and I understand people wanting you to score every single time you’ve got the ball. But we understand that it’s not possible.
“We need to try and work at it, especially when you come up against a low block. I know people will say this is the same old story, but it’s the truth. We need to try and penetrate them in different ways. If that includes working the balls wide to come into the middle, then we need to do that.
“There were enough moments that I feel we were doing the right thing to try and win the game. Even in the first half, one (effort) goes through the guy’s legs, gets cleared off the line behind him.
“In the second half, the ball goes under the goalie, and comes off the bar. All these things are quite unusual. It’s maybe just a wee bit of luck at the minute. I take encouragement from what I’ve seen in terms of the amount of chances we create around the box.
“In weeks to come, we can take those chances and the results will be better.”
