MARK WARBURTON is pleased the Ibrox crowd stuck by his Rangers stars despite the Light Blues suffering their first defeat of the campaign against St Johnstone.

Warburton’s side saw their eleven game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday night as they crashed out of the League Cup after a 3-1 loss to the Saints.

First half strikes from Murray Davidson and Simon Lappin had the visitors in control of the tie and when Michael O’Halloran added a third goal just after the break, the writing was on the wall for Rangers.

Right-back James Tavernier netted his seventh goal of the season to give the Gers hope but there was no heroic recovery from Warburton’s side as they were beaten for the first time this term.

It was to prove a disappointing night all round for Rangers but the Ibrox boss was pleased with the support from the stands as his side looked to launch a late fightback.

Warburton said: “The fans have been magnificent from day one, and we always say that. It was a test for us [on Tuesday night] to see their reaction, but they back their team.

“We said in the changing room that the fans were with us right to the final whistle, so that was very welcome and much appreciated, so hopefully they saw that we were losing 3-1 but there was no lack of application or lack of work ethic, and the players kept on going right to the final whistle.

“We will have a bad day at the office sometimes, but if we always maintain that work ethic then we’ll be in good shape.”

Rangers went into the cup clash with high hopes after a superb run of form in the opening weeks of the campaign but were left with nothing to show for their efforts as the Saints clinched a deserved win.

A sloppy first half showing cost Warburton’s side dear as they were left with it all to do and the former Brentford boss hopes his players will learn from their errors as attentions turn to the Championship clash with Morton this weekend.

“At the club we were at last year, we had one bad half of football and conceded three goals, and we always referred back to that half of football,” he told rangers.co.uk.

“If our standards drop, that’s what happens, and we can use that first half from today. We didn’t get to it and win our first balls and second balls, didn’t get tight enough to stop crosses and lacked quality in the final third so we were two-down.

“It was a challenge to us, but we kept on playing and kept on looking for the ball, and showed a great attitude.

“The crowd were good behind us, they saw that we kept trying to do the right things, but we have to learn from it all.”