KENNY Miller believes it is vital that Rangers avoid the stuttering start to the Ladbrokes Premiership campaign they made on their return to the top flight last season if they are to challenge Celtic in the coming months.
Miller and his team mates went into last term with high hopes of toppling their city rivals as Scottish champions after their then manager Mark Warburton had brought Joey Barton, Clint Hill and Niko Kranjcar, players with considerable reputations down south, to Ibrox.
But the Glasgow clubs drew with Hamilton at home in their opening league game, dropped two more points to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, were thrashed by Celtic at Parkhead, failed to beat Ross County in Govan and were defeated by Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
That latter loss to Derek McInnes’s side in September left Warburton’s team seven points behind the defending champions and in seventh spot in the table and they eventually finished no fewer than 39 points adrift.
Miller appreciates that Rangers must overcome Motherwell at Fir Park tomorrow and then follow that up with a run of victories if they are to vie for the trophy in the coming months.
The striker scored on the Govan club’s return to European competition in a 1-0 win over Progres Niederkorn in the first leg of the Europa League first qualifying round at Ibrox last month.
He was, though, unable to prevent them losing 2-0 in the rematch and crashing to an embarrassing defeat to the part-time Luxembourgian minnows.
The former Scotland internationalist knows from extensive past experience that their focus must be firmly on the games they have coming up.
“It’s disappointing not to still be involved in Europe, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” he said. “It’s done. A month has passed now. It has all been about building towards the start of the season. Of course we’re disappointed. But we have got to let that go now and focus on Sunday.
“Last season we stumbled at home against Hamilton. We need to start well. You don’t want to be falling a point, two points, three points behind teams after two or three games. It’s important we are fully focused on the job in hand, which is beating Motherwell on Sunday.
Asked if Rangers being more competitive in Premiership in the 2017/18 campaign was his objective, Miller replied: “One hundred per cent. For me, the start of the season is huge. We huffed and puffed at the start of last season. We drew, we won, we drew, we drew, we got beat.
“After five or six games we were seven points back already. We had dropped points with draws against Hamilton and Killie and had been beaten by Celtic. We were seven points back after a handful of games. For me, it’s important we start well.
“We have to be fully focused about going to Motherwell on Sunday with a bit of confidence, a bit of belief and some positivity.”
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