BRANDON Barker believes the Ladbrokes Premiership game against Rangers at Easter Road on Wednesday proved Hibernian can finish runners-up – even though his side ended up losing 2-1.

The 21-year-old Manchester City loanee hit the post twice after coming off the bench in the second half as Neil Lennon’s side fought to draw level.

The Championship champions were also denied a late penalty after substitute David Bates appeared to handle an Efe Ambrose cross inside the Rangers box.

But Barker feels the performance against the team which is currently in second spot in the top flight table shows Hibs come finish as best of the rest behind Celtic.

“It was horrible,” he said. “We dominated from start to finish. It was one of those days. I’d rather lose a 4-0 game than a game like that.

“Rangers are second now and yet we have dominated them. It hasn’t been an even game if I’m being honest. We should have won 4-1 or 4-2.

“They are second and we have gone toe to toe with them and really dominated them. It gives us confidence obviously

Barker added: “I am not going to sit here and say we are the second best team. But we are definitely up there with the other two (Aberdeen and Rangers).

“We have just come up from the Championship, but we don’t just want to fill places, we want to challenge for European places.

“Hopefully we can get a positive result against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday. We will give it everything and hopefully it will go our way.

“It is a must win game in my opinion. Hopefully we will go there and do the business.”