Saturday 6 August 2016 20:37, UK
Rangers midfielder Joey Barton is expecting no easy fixtures in the Scottish Premiership after predicting sides will treat a visit to Ibrox as their "cup final".
Barton was named man of the match as the Light Blues were held to a 1-1 draw against Hamilton Academical on Saturday in their first top-flight game since 2012.
Martyn Waghorn rescued a point for Mark Walburton's side after Ali Crawford stunned the home faithful with a 30th-minute opener.
Speaking to Sky Sports afterwards, Barton said Rangers won't simply coast to victories.
"People expected us just to turn up and win here today and that’s not going to be the case," said the midfielder.
"You have to earn your right to win a football match. But we showed great character to get back in it. Unfortunately Wagy [Waghorn] picked up a bit of a knock, which was unfortunate because we had the momentum. But that’s football. It’s a starting point for us. The league was not going to be won today and it certainly was not going to be lost.”
Barton was key to Burnley's promotion back to the Premier League last season but opted to go north of the border and sign for the Glasgow club.
Asked if he was surprised by anything in his first competitive match, Barton replied: "Not really, I’ve known about the standard of Scottish football for a long time. We knew every team coming to Ibrox was going to be like a cup final. For a lot of teams it is like a cup final and we’ve got to be ready to meet that and match that.”
“We showed glimpses of what we can do as a team, a fairly newly-assembled one. Some new parts have come into it, myself included, and we will grow over the course of the season.
“It could have been a smash and grab and Hamilton could have won that today so we showed a lot of character. We’ll build on this and go again.”
Next up for Rangers are Peterhead at home in the Scottish League Cup on Tuesday.
