Russell Martin convinced 10-man Rangers will 'learn and grow' from Genk defeat as he vows to battle on amid fierce backlash
Ibrox boss finds himself under serious pressure after Rangers were beaten 1-0 by Genk in their opening Europa League fixture
Russell Martin believes his Rangers side will “learn and grow” from having to play with ten men for a long period of time - admitting he was “proud” of his players’ performance in the Europa League loss to KRC Genk.
The 10-man Gers slumped to yet another defeat after former Celtic striker Oh Hyeon-gyu returned to Glasgow to net the only goal of the game at Ibrox to ensure the Belgians started their league phase campaign with maximum points.
The goal came after Mohamed Diomande saw red in the first-half, leaving the hosts was a mountain to climb. Martin’s side were unable to find an equaliser to leave the Englishman facing up to more fan fury.
But does Martin believe he can still turn things around and get fans back onside? “Yeah, I’ve said so many times before the only thing that will impact that is winning football matches.
“Inside the building, they’ve been amazing. The players, the staff have been great. So we just have to keep focusing on that and then the outcome will end up being positive. Hopefully that will turn the supporters and their feelings.”
US-based chairman Andrew Cavenagh remained in Glasgow this week to attend the match, having flown in last Thursday to take full control of the escalating crisis at Ibrox.
Quizzed on what he will have made of the animosity coming from the stands being directed towards him, Martin responded: “Ermm... I’ll find out in about 15 minutes. I look forward to seeing him and chatting to him.”
Martin: Rangers ‘not far’ away from delivering 90-minute performance
Asked on TNT Sports how far he feels his team are from delivering a complete 90-minute performance, Martin said: “Not far. I think we’ll learn and grow from tonight. I think they did well for having to play with ten men for so long.
“As much as it was good evidence for us last Saturday about the good feeling they had after the game, there will be stuff from tonight that will be really clear for the players to learn from tomorrow.”
What has John Souttar said post-match?
“Frustrating night,” he declared. “I thought we started the game pretty well. The sending off makes it difficult. In the second half we tried to play high and we had a few chances but yes it’s frustrating.
“If I knew what was going wrong I’d try my best to help. It’s numerous things. It’s difficult to analyse it right after the game. Obviously, I understand the fans’ frustrations, we’re the exactly same in there. We can only turn it round by performances and winning games and we need to do that quickly.”