DUMBARTON boss Stephen Aitken was pleased with the application of his players as they went down 4-0 to Championship leaders Rangers.

The Sons equipped themselves well at Ibrox as they made it difficult for Mark Warburton’s side but eventually succumbed to second half goals from Jason Holt, Martyn Waghorn, Nathan Oduwa and an Andy Halliday penalty.

There was plenty of encouragement for the Rock boss, though, as he reflected on a tough encounter for his side against the in-form Light Blues.

Dumbarton remain ninth in the Championship standings and will now turn their attentions to the trip to bottom of the table Alloa on Saturday.

Aitken said: “The positives for myself was the first half performance. The plan was to try and frustrate Rangers, to have a good shape and make it hard for them and I think we done that.

“Ultimately, there is a big difference between full-time and part-time and that was always going to be the case. I can’t fault my players for their effort.

“They gave everything they had and put that much into the first half. Unfortunately we tired in the second half.

“Rangers were always going to up the tempo in the second half and you can see with the intensity that they play at they will make it hard for most teams.

“It is not easy. Most of the guys were working and done ten hour shifts.

“We came here and gave it our best shot. In the first half, there was plenty of encouragement for me. In the second half, Rangers' class showed.

“The first goal, we should have defended that better, like we did in the first half. We switched off.

“When you switch off against good teams, like Rangers are, then they will punish you.

“The first goal was always going to be key. The longer we could have left it, it might have given us a better opportunity.

“To lose it as early as we did in the second half, it was always going to be an uphill struggle and Rangers upped a few gears.”