Derek McInnes was ‘delighted’ with the effort of his Rangers players despite their defeat to Hibernian.
However, he admitted his side were hard done by as they fell to a late reverse at Ibrox on Sunday.
Rangers are still chasing their first competitive win under McInnes as they went down 2-1 to Hibs with Gers fans loudly booing once the full-time whistle was blown.
The result leaves Rangers five points off the pace after just two games with rivals and defending Scottish Premiership champions Celtic amassing a maximum six points.
Josh Campbell’s controversial penalty had opened the scoring for the visitors after summer signing Vanja Dragojevic was punished for holding Jason Kerr at a corner following a VAR review.
Despite the setback, Rangers appeared to have rescued a point through Miguel Chaiwa’s own goal with just five minutes of the 90 remaining.
However, Callum Wright grabbed the winner for Hibs in the third minute of stoppage time with just his side’s second shot on target of the match.
To add to Rangers’ woes, striker Youssef Chermiti was stretchered off during the first half after colliding with an advertising board.
‘Mugged off’ – McInnes
Following the match, McInnes said he felt his side were undeserved losers based on the balance of play.
He told Premier Sports: “I thought we were guilty of passing out a few opportunities in the first half and guilty a wee bit of not playing forward enough.
“But I thought going behind to the penalty kick, I’ve seen it back, I don’t think it’s a penalty, but we’ve got a lot of the game to try and rectify that.
“I do think (the penalty) is really, really soft and I’m surprised the referee was brought over to it, but we tried to change one or two things just to try and get more of an attacking threat.
4
“I thought when we did go into strikers, I thought we were far more effective, and I thought the equaliser was way (less) than we deserved at that time, and I thought we just looked like trying to win the game. I can’t afford my players’ effort. They went hell for leather to try and win the game.
“I think Hibs had two shots on target, and they’ve won the game, and it feels as if we’ve been mugged off a wee bit, and it’s a disappointing afternoon. But I’m delighted with the players’ efforts.”
Rangers registered nine shots on target to their opponents’ two during the match.
However, they remain without a victory under McInnes three fixtures into his tenure.
4
4
Sunday’s defeat follows a draw at Dundee United on the opening weekend and a loss to Jagiellonia Bialystok in the Europa League on Thursday.
Rangers host their Polish opponents in the second leg of their tie on Thursday night.
They then welcome St. Mirren to Ibrox in the second round of the Scottish League Cup on Sunday.
