Connor Barron: Rangers can take confidence from Braga draw into Falkirk clash

Connor Barron believes Rangers can take heart from their battling Europa League draw with Braga into Sunday’s Premiership clash with Falkirk.

Danny Rohl’s side had looked set to claim a first victory of the league stage when they led the Portuguese side thanks to James Tavenier’s penalty.

Braga, though, took advantage of an error from defender Nasser Djiga to claim an equaliser through Gabri Martinez and severely damage Rangers’ chances of progressing to the next phase.

Barron admits the team need to cut out the concession of cheap goals but believes there were plenty of positives to be taken from the overall performance.

And the former Aberdeen midfielder hopes to take those into Sunday where they will look to win a fifth successive league match since Rohl took charge.

He said: “We’re disappointed we didn’t get the three points (against Braga) but I thought for large spells in the game we were good and dealt with the conditions really well.

“We showed something we haven’t shown in the previous Europa League games so we can take confidence from that, in terms of the performance.

“But in terms of a result, we still need to work on that and we believe we can. Hopefully we can carry that performance into Sunday. We have to do that.

“The fixtures come thick and fast here but we’ve got to go and deal with that. We have to pick up maximum points on Sunday.

“I’ve seen a lot of differences and improvements since the manager came in. I feel like we’re playing with a lot more freedom and the boys are taking advantage of that.

“Obviously we have to pick up results and in the league we’ve done that. But (Thursday) was a disappointing one.”

Rangers will likely need to win their last three Europa League matches – away to Ferencvaros, at home to Ludogorets and away to Porto – to have any chance of progressing.

But Barron insists they have not given up on that goal.

The 23-year-old added: “Personally, I felt like I did well (on Thursday night) but the focus has to be on the team and getting three points. We didn’t do that and we’re disappointed with just one.

“We have to try and win the last three games now, 100 percent. And the belief is in there to go and do it. That’s our focus but we’ve got another game on Sunday.”