ANDRE GRAY provided the sharp shooting as Rangers were forced to settle for some blunt talking.
The dressing room was locked for an hour after Saturday’s friendly, which was about the only time Rangers managed to keep the door bolted against the newly-promoted Premier League side
And Ibrox striker Kenny Miller has ordered his team-mates to heed the warnings from their sobering defeat to Burnley ahead of this weekend’s Premiership opener against Hamilton Accies.
Rangers boss Mark Warburton will console himself with the fact his team won’t face a side as good in the coming months.
However, a revitalised Celtic under Brendan Rodgers might just provide a similar challenge – and woe betide Rangers if they are as timid in next month’s Old Firm clash at Parkhead.
Rangers found little room to work through the middle, no space for manoeuvre down the flanks and, Joey Barton apart, couldn’t pick a precision pass of more than 30 yards over the top.
Their passing became wasteful and ragged as the Clarets exposed a soft underbelly in the centre of defence with Gray – the £6million striker Warburton nurtured at Brentford – making hay.
Miller finally emerged from the dressing room just as the Ibrox cleaners were going off shift.
And although he continued to talk up his side’s title chances, his words came with a caution. He said: “Win, lose or draw we always analyse performances. It might have been a little longer because there were a few things said that probably needed to be said.
“The manager is really big on the communication side of it among the team – we try to sort things out ourselves. We have to make sure the issues that arose against Burnley don’t crop up again.
“What was said shall remain within the dressing room although it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out the areas that need to be addressed.
“It was a disappointing result. There were positives to take from a game against very good opposition. We knew this was going to be a far greater test than anything we have faced in pre-season already.
“We stuck to our principles but a few lapses in the first half cost us. When you play against a team of that standard and you are as open as we were, they will punish you.
“They scored twice in the first half and hit the post, all from our turnovers. We can look at that and hopefully ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“It’s still pre-season at the moment. This was always going to be a good test but it’s disappointing to lose any game. That’s the nature of this football club and you
probably look back on it more harshly than you should.
“In hindsight it may not be as bad as we think. But we were definitely exposed in certain areas.
“The goals we lost were soft and easy, particularly from the turnover of our possession.
“The manager has stressed we need to be better in what we do.
“However, as much as we are disappointed, we know we are in a good place. We are fit and we have had good performances, albeit against lesser opposition, in the last few matches. We have a lot of options and are far better equipped now than we were last season.”
This game provided a startling reminder of the gulf that now exists between top Scottish clubs and run-of-the-mill English outfits.
In all likelihood Burnley will spend much of this season scrambling for mid-table safety.
And yet their players looked more assured on the ball, the quality in their ranks reflected in an annual wage bill that will eclipse Rangers’ by at least six times.
Warburton bought Gray from Luton two years ago but even his £600,000 fee is beyond all but Scotland’s top two clubs.
He twice spun on to passes off the shoulder of Clint Hill, winning a penalty he converted after four minutes and sliding home a second on 18 minutes. Burnley sealed victory when he ran on to a flick from Lukas Jutkiewicz eight minutes into the second half.
Miller said: “There are few clubs bigger than Rangers in terms of traditions, history and success.
“But the riches are so great in that promised land of the Premier League. The money being spent in the Championship is even greater now because they can see that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow of promotion.
“I played in the Play-Off Final for Wolves and it was tagged the £60m game. Now it’s the £160m game. The gulf in finances is only getting bigger but when Burnley come to Ibrox I still expect to beat them.”
There was a consolation of sorts when lively sub Michael O’Halloran forced Ben Mee to knock a cross into his own net, although by then the game had long since dropped to training match pace.
Miller said: “We are ready for Hamilton Accies. The game is next week – we have to be ready.
“There’s no getting away from it, no hiding place. It’s a full house and we want to start well then go up to Dundee and also win there.”