'Disappointing night' for Smith

Walter Smith may take pride in the winning mentality he has instilled at Rangers but admits he could have no complaints about St Johnstone claiming all three points with an impressive 4-1 win in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League on Tuesday night.

The Scottish champions found themselves trailing to goals from Cillian Sheridan and Chris Millar in the opening 12 minutes. And hopes of a comeback when Sasa Papac pulled a goal back for the Ibrox side proved premature when the home side struck again either side of the break through Liam Craig and Murray Davidson.

Smith said: "Over the seasons that I've been here, we have tried to build a pride and a winning mentality in our team and that has always been there."

He added: "You get disappointed when you lose games. It was a very disappointing night.

"I felt we started the game very poorly, as poorly as we have started any game this season and St Johnstone started extremely well.

"I thought they played very well, especially in the first half. In the second half we got to grips with the game a bit more but never really created a great deal from our territorial advantage.

"Overall, I can't begrudge St Johnstone their win because they played very well."

Top goalscorer Kris Boyd and Kevin Thomson were the players withdrawn at half-time as Rangers tried in vain to haul themselves back into the game but Smith admits there were plenty of contenders for the hook ahead of the second half.

"It could have been anybody at half-time, couldn't it?" said the Rangers boss.

"We adjusted the way we played in the second half of the game, which resulted in us doing better territorially, although not particularly football-wise or creation of opportunity-wise."