MARK WARBURTON is confident Rangers are on the right track ahead of their curtain-raiser against Hibernian on Saturday - despite seeing his side lose 1-0 to Burnley last night.

The new Light Blues boss suffered a defeat in his first match at Ibrox as former Falkirk midfielder Scott Arfield netted the only goal of the game to clinch a narrow win for the Clarets.

Warburton fielded summer signings Wes Foderingham, James Tavernier, Danny Wilson, Rob Kiernan, Andy Halliday and Martyn Waghorn from the start, while midfielder Jason Holt also played as a trialist as he closes in on a deal to take him to Ibrox.

Rangers kick-off the campaign with a Petrofac Training Cup tie at Easter Road this weekend and Warburton is satisfied with the progress his side has made so far as he prepares for his competitive bow.

He said: “The fans aren’t stupid. They know that two of the boys (Tavernier and Waghorn) arrived here [on Monday] and only trained for 20 minutes with us. It takes time to bed in the players but I’m delighted with their contribution and also with the young players who came on. Seeing some of them make their debuts was really pleasing.

“Are we ready for Hibs? Absolutely. That was game three tonight and Saturday is game four of our pre-season programme because our first focus is the league.

“That doesn’t mean we go into any game weak: far from it, we’ll go there to win.”

After behind-closed-door clashes against Tottenham Hotspur and Ayr United in recent days, Rangers fans finally got a chance to see their new-look side in action at Ibrox last night.

It was to prove a mixed evening for the Light Blues as they turned in a solid performance and impressed at times, but were left with nothing to show for their efforts in their final warm-up.

Arfield clinched the win for Sean Dyche’s side with a neat finish after a mistake from Wilson, but Warburton insists there were positives and negatives from his Ibrox bow.

He said: “I was pleased with the first half an hour. We had good tempo and good quality, but I was disappointed at the goal.

“We just dropped five or 10 yards too deep for the first time and they punished us. Margins are fine.

“But against players who played in the Premier League last year I thought it was a very good evening’s work. But we’re never happy to lose a game of football.”

One of the silver linings for Warburton was the performance of midfielder Holt. Rangers have agreed a development fee with Hearts to allow him to complete a switch to Ibrox and Warburton is keen to do a deal to add the 22-year-old to his squad.

He said: “I wanted to see him in a competitive environment against a good team. I was delighted with Jason, who fits in well with the squad, so hopefully we can take that forward. I focus on the team and let the powers-that-be deal with that.”