IT was only the first game of the league season. There are still another 37 matches to be played and no fewer than 1l1 points available. So the 1-1 draw which Rangers recorded against Hamilton at Ibrox on Saturday in their opening Ladbrokes Premiership fixture of the 2016/17 campaign was by no means a disaster.
Mark Warburton’s team will, no doubt, use their disappointment at their weekend performance and result as motivation to perform better in future. Indeed, it will be no surprise if there is a stark improvement when they take on Dundee at Dens Park in their next league encounter.
At the same time, though, the Hamilton outing underlined that the Championship winners, contrary to what many of their supporters suspected following the arrival of some quality reinforcements during the summer, won’t find life in the top flight entirely straightforward.
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The rivals certainly performed exceptionally in demanding circumstances. They competed ferociously and limited the chances their opponents, who enjoyed the vast majority of possession, created up front. They took their own opportunity when it came superbly. The excellent Ali Crawford stroked a sweet left foot strike beyond Wes Foderingham and into the top corner in the first half.
But Martin Canning’s side are by no means outstanding. Last term they finished in the bottom six in the Premiership and narrowly avoided being drawn into the play-offs. Despite the recruitment of, among others, former Celtic midfielder Massimo Donati and Remi Matthews from Norwich City, they will be content to simply survive in the division in the coming season.
The coloured cards which the fans in the Sandy Jardine Stand held aloft before kick-off collectively read “Going for 55”. It referred, despite impish online wags suggesting it was the points tally they hoped to reach in the season ahead, to the number of national titles they intend to have won by next summer.
But failing to overcome the New Douglas Park club at Ibrox in front of a crowd of 49,125 which consisted mainly of their own fans is hardly the form of prospective champions. They will have to play at a far higher level, at the back and in the final third especially, to challenge their city rivals for the title in the months ahead. They will come up against far more formidable opponents at far more hostile arenas.
Barrie McKay endured another torrid afternoon. The Rangers winger had his shirt ripped off his back by Hamilton players as he probed relentlessly for an opening in their defence. But he still emerged from the encounter as arguably his side’s most effective outfield performer. His outstanding personal display augurs well for the future or both his club and country.
It was only the 21-year-old’s second outing in the top division; he came on as a late substitute in the final league game of the troubled 2011/12 season against St. Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. But he stressed that he knew exactly what to expect and insisted that his team mates were exactly the same. He predicted more was to come.
“Every player in the dressing room knew it was always going to be harder this season,” he said. “It’s a step up. But teams will look to play the same way they did against us last season when they sat in, tried to hit us on the counter attack and interrupt our rhythm.
"They were giving away fouls and kicking the ball away, trying to stop us from playing and interrupting the tempo we were trying to play at.
“We’re not really right up and running, but that will be the same as every team. At the same time we did create quite a lot of chances and dominate the game and we should have gone on to win it."
Joey Barton, the most high-profile of the new acquisitions, was named the sponsor’s Man of the Match award at the end of proceedings. The experienced Englishman was decent enough without being sensational and it was hard not to conclude that he was nominated on reputation not form.
Still, the former Manchester City, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers and Marseille man was involved in the equaliser that Martyn Waghorn, who later limped off injured, buried clinically in the second half. McKay feels Rangers will improve as Barton improves.
“He’s beginning to grow in influence on the team,” he said. “He’s a very lively character and he has a lot of time for everyone in the team. He is a ball winner and is not scared to put in a challenge and he can play as well.
"It suits me better he can take just one touch then pass it straight out to me and missing everyone out. That will help me as the season goes on too, playing with a player like Joey.”
Matthews, who is on loan from Norwich for the season, believes Hamilton will grow in confidence as a result of the draw against Rangers away from home and can enjoy a decent seasons. "We're not here to be pushed over,” he said. “We'll do as well as we can, staying in the league is the main thing. We'll just get as high up the table as possible. It's a good start and we've got to build on that.
“We would have loved to have won the game. It was always going to be how it was, how they put on the pressure at the end. But we had a couple of chances, if the quality had been a little better we could have won it.”
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