MARK WARBURTON insists Rangers won’t dwell on the defeat to Falkirk as they look to learn the lessons from their late collapse last week.

The Light Blues were on course to stretch their advantage at the top of the Championship seven days ago as goals from Kenny Miller and Barrie McKay put them 2-0 up at Westfield.

But Warburton’s side failed to fire in the second half as they shipped three late goals and saw victory snatched from their grasps by the Bairns.

SportTimes columnist Derek Johnstone reckons there has been an over-reaction in some quarters to the manner of the loss as the Gers were left shell-shocked.

And Ibrox boss Warburton is determined to take the positives out of a mixed display as attentions turn to the visit of Queen of the South tomorrow.

He said: “We watched it up to the hour mark, [we were] in total control.

“I have just been on a course and one very wise guy said that you over analyse a defeat and you under analyse your victories.

“It is true. You immediately think ‘investigation’ and ‘what did we do wrong?’ and you put in three or four times the normal amount of time.

“It is wrong to do that. You have got to be really clear in your judgement.

“The point is that for an hour we were in total control and after 20 minutes we should have been, I think Peter (Houston) said it, four, five, six [ahead] and out of sight and we weren’t.

“Barrie went round the goalkeeper, Jason just missed, a disallowed goal that we know should have been allowed. We should have been out of sight, but we weren’t.

“There was a spell of five minutes where Wes had to make three saves so we have to look at it, and we have looked at it and what we can do better. Like any team, you hopefully learn from your mistakes.

“We are in good shape. We never want to lose a game of football, never want to drop points.

“But we are in good shape still. The team have trained outstandingly well last week and that showed in the way we started the game against Falkirk.

“Again this week, first class and [I am] really pleased with the level of training, the quality in training. We are in good shape.”

It may have been an evening to forget at Falkirk but it has been a season to savour for Warburton and his players this term as they have moved to within three wins of title glory.

Rangers have opened the polls for supporters to choose their top performer this term and have also unveiled a five-man shortlist for the young player gong.

The likes of Lee Wallace and Barrie McKay are set to be in with a shout of a prize but Warburton reckons the Light Blue legions face a tough choice.

He said: “Despite voting having commenced for the Player of the Year Awards I would like to alert fans to a late change of procedure.

“The quality of this squad should be reflected in the vote and therefore I believe strongly that fans should be able to vote for any player who has contributed to our success so far this season.

“I misunderstood the mechanics of the vote and didn’t realise those players would be the final selection.

“It might be tradition to shortlist a number of players, however this season I feel we need to go against that because there are so many players who could justifiably win the award.

“I think it is important that our fans should be able to make their own choices and many of them will quite rightly have a number of players in mind.

“The squad has performed admirably thus far and it is pleasing that so many players can make a strong case for winning this eagerly sought after prize.”

With their Championship coronation and Hampden outings against Peterhead and Celtic to come in the next few weeks, there is plenty to look forward for Rangers between now and the end of the campaign.

Warburton has already turned his attentions to next term, though, and has put his plans in place for a summer trip across the Atlantic ahead of a crack at the Premiership.

He said: "Pre-season is booked, we're going to try and finalise a games programme.

"We plan to go to North America and details will come out shortly I'm sure.

"We plan to go away and play just one game. The focus will be on getting fit, it's a training camp.

"We did the same with Brentford, took them away to North America, a different place, but it's important to go somewhere where the players can take their mind off the fact they're working three times a day.

"I appreciate that the gap would be reduced quite dramatically when you have the cup final, but that would be a good problem to have. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it."