Smith pleased with Rangers' response

Walter Smith believes he finally saw glimpses of the spirit which saw Rangers compete on four fronts last season when they opened the new Clydesdale Bank Premier League campaign with a win at Falkirk today.

And the Ibrox boss has backed his players to put their midweek European exit at the hands of FBK Kaunas firmly behind them following what was a dismal week for the club both financially and in terms of reputation.

Andrius Velicka opened his account for his new club by claiming the decisive goal at the Falkirk Stadium and, now that the pressure has been eased slightly, Smith has backed Rangers to push on in their quest for domestic honours this season.

He said: “There was a bit more activity about us than there was in the two games against Kaunas.

“It won’t take away from the disappointment of what happened last week and I hope that will be with us for quite a while. But we definitely showed a determination and it was more like last season.

“The biggest problem we have is that we have built up a reputation over the last 18 months and it got ruined in two games.

“Their attitude and determination to play was something we have not had to question over the 18 months I’ve been the manager.

“Obviously the two games we played over the last couple of weeks changed everyone’s opinion so it was good they got that back again and I’m sure we will go on from here.”

The events in Kaunas sent shockwaves throughout the continent, as last season’s UEFA Cup finalists were sent crashing out of Europe before their SPL campaign had even begun.

The pressure was on to secure all three points at Falkirk and Smith admitted: “It was an important win for us.

“You always like to get off to a win at the start of any league season and, especially after the happenings of midweek, it was an important win for us.

“I would certainly hope it would give everyone a little bit of a lift in confidence.

“If we had played anything like we did today in either of the two games against Kaunas, we might not have been knocked out in the manner we were.”

Falkirk probably deserved at least a share of the points but Allan McGregor’s save from a Michael Higdon penalty when the game was still deadlocked proved to be a pivotal moment.

Smith said: “It was obviously an important save. There was a little bit of slackness on our own part in terms of defending.

“We handled most of today’s circumstances quite well but we were slack at that stage.

“With the week that we’ve had it was one of those that you felt might have gone against us but it didn’t and credit to Allan for making the save.

“We went on to get the winner after that and we were pleased about that. We managed to get the win and that was the most important thing for us.”

Kevin Thomson limped out of the action with a thigh strain but is unlikely to face a spell on the sidelines, while Carlos Cuellar should be back for next week’s visit of Hearts.

Asked what the difference was between the two sides today, Falkirk boss John Hughes replied: “Belief. It’s Rangers you are playing against and, no matter how they are playing, there are always a danger.

“Two words I would say to my own team are ’belief’ and ’conviction.’ If they had showed a bit more of those, they would definitely have taken something from the game.”