Danny Rohl urges Rangers to put European woe behind them as title fight resumes

Rangers boss Danny Rohl is intent on consigning a dismal Europa League campaign to history to focus on domestic matters.

The Light Blues were already eliminated from the competition before their 3-1 defeat away to Porto on Thursday.

Rangers finished their campaign with just four points from a possible 24 and in 32nd place out of 36 teams.

Rohl, whose side have a Scottish Cup date with Queen’s Park at Ibrox next week, are second in the William Hill Premiership ahead of Sunday’s trip to Hibernian.

The German coach told Rangers TV: “I see a big, big improvement from a lot of players, and we should not forget, for some players, it was the first time playing on that (Europa League) level.

“But from now on it’s full focus on the league, and the cup game, and it’s what we have to do.

“It will be a completely different game. There will be atmosphere in the stadium. We have to be very strong in the duels, and from now on, it’s everything on the league.”

Hibs’ squad has been the subject of some transition in the lead-up to Sunday’s match, with top scorer Kieron Bowie sold to Hellas Verona on Friday and three new faces having been recruited.

On-loan Coventry midfielder Kai Andrews, on-loan Tottenham forward Dane Scarlett and Irish striker Owen Elding are all in contention for a debut this weekend.

David Gray’s side are bidding to bounce back from demoralising back-to-back defeats against Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup and Falkirk in the league by beating Rangers for the first time this term.

“Rangers are obviously in very good form,” said Gray. “The new manager’s came in and their form speaks for itself. They are a good side, we know that.

“But I think it has been very fine margins in all the games we’ve played against Rangers this season, and unfortunately we’ve been on the wrong side of that.

“That’s something we really want to put right this weekend. Naturally, you look over the last few meetings and you look at what happened within the games, but probably the two teams have different squads as well now.

“Rangers have added different players and our squad is slightly different as well, so I think it’s more about me concentrating on us and getting that reaction (from recent defeats) and putting that belief back into the players, and trying to use this opportunity this weekend to get three points at home.”