Connor Barron admits Rangers display was ‘unacceptable’ as Barry Ferguson fumes

Connor Barron addressed Barry Ferguson’s scathing put down of his Rangers side following the 2-0 defeat against Hibernian at Ibrox on Saturday.

Goals from Dylan Levitt and Martin Boyle extended Hibernian’s unbeaten run in the William Hill Premiership to 16 games and consigned the Gers to a fifth successive home defeat for the first time.

Next up at Ibrox is Spanish outfit Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final on Thursday and interim boss Ferguson has promised changes in personnel and style after insisting the players were “miles off being a Rangers team” against Hibs.

Midfielder Barron, who signed from Aberdeen last summer, said: “It’s not nice to hear that of course, but we’re the ones out on the pitch and we’ve got to hold ourselves accountable.

“It’s unacceptable. That’s how no Rangers team should play. We need to come here and, as I say, every time we pull on the shirt we need to win.

“We haven’t done that enough this season and that’s on us.

“The fans come here, they pay the money, they support the club and we pay them back like that today and too many times this season.

“As I say, it’s unacceptable and we need more from us.

“We’ve all had our piece to say, the staff, the players. We know that we can’t step over that white line for this football club and perform like that.

“It needs to change. It can’t just be on a Thursday, it needs to be every single time. It needs to be any game we pull on that shirt, it needs to be 100 per cent. We didn’t get that.”

On the issues of pending changes for Europe, Barron said: “As players, you’re only as good as your last game and that’s the way football is.

“It’s a quick turnaround. There’s a game around the corner and if you’re not performing, you’re not going to play. That’s just the way football works. That’s it.

“There needs to be a reaction on Thursday. Every single game we play from now to the end of the season, there needs to be that. It can’t happen again.”

The win by a Hibernian team that were bottom of the league as recently as mid-December kept them one point ahead of fourth-placed Aberdeen with six fixtures remaining.

And Hibs are one game away from matching their record of 17 successive fixtures unbeaten set in 1947-48 by the Easter Road team that went on to win the league.

Boss David Gray said: “I think the key to it all is it starts right from the top all the way through.

“It’s on the training pitch, the togetherness from everyone doing it every single day.

“When you’re feeling really confident in yourself and the belief’s there, you do things a lot quicker.

“You make less mistakes. Or even if you do make a mistake, your teammates are there to pick it up.

“And maybe you don’t get quite as punished when everything’s going well for you.

“And I think we’re really benefiting from that just now that players are playing with a real bit of desire and confidence in themselves and making good decisions.”