Bojan Miovski is confident Rangers can transform their fortunes this term despite another defeat that has piled more pressure on head coach Russell Martin.
Rangers crashed to their sixth defeat in just 16 games this term as Sturm Graz ran out 2-1 winners on Thursday night. Martin expressed his confidence that progression in the Europa League is still possible, but his side are one of only six in the competition who have yet to pick up a point from the opening two rounds of fixtures.
Djeidi Gassama gave the visitors hope in Austria after a dreadful first half that saw Graz cruise into a two-goal lead. It was an advantage that they never squandered as Martin felt the full fury from the travelling supporters.
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Rangers head to Falkirk aiming to follow up on their Premiership victory over Livingston last weekend. And Miovski is sure there will be better times ahead for Martin and his underperforming squad.
“Yeah, of course,” Miovski said when asked if he believed Rangers could still qualify. “There are still six games to play. I think if we need to show a better performance, of course. But we as a team need to start winning games.
“We feel frustrated as well because we are not winning games. In this football club, you need to win games. Of course, we will give everything from every player, give everything on the pitch to start winning games.
“Yeah, of course [our fortunes can change]. We have good players, to be honest. We have a really good squad. I think at the moment we don't show this on the pitch or we are not consistent.
“But some parts of the game we show that we have a really good squad. And we can hurt everyone. So we need to start to have this consistency because in this club we must win games.
“In this football club we don't have time. We need to start winning games.”
The strike from Gassama was a moment of magic. The winger had been the bright spark for Rangers and he stepped up when needed with a fine finish from distance after cutting in from the left flank.
It was not the catalyst for a comeback, however. The defensive mistakes in the first half cost Rangers dear as Martin questioned the character and concentration of his players. Once again, the Ibrox squad were left to lick their wounds.
“Disappointed,” Miovski said. “The first half was not good enough. I think we conceded two cheap goals.
“It was very easy. We worked really hard to score that goal. We conceded very easily.
“It was, to be honest, a really bad first half. But the second half, I think we were better. We were aggressive. We made fouls when we needed.
“We scored that early goal and I think we gave everything to score that equaliser. But it was not good enough.
“Look, the defensive thing starts from the striker. So, I think we all together need to defend the goal. It's not only for defenders.
“I think in the Livingston game, the first half was good. The second half was not good. And now the first half [against Graz] was not good.
“The second half was good. We need to start to have consistency. Because when you lose that, if you are disconnected for one second, they’ll punish you, especially in this competition.
“We put everything in the last couple of minutes because it was 2-1. We put everything forward to score that equalise because for us it was so important to score that goal.
“But in the end it was not enough. They defended really well. And we are of course disappointed.”
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