DUMBARTON manager Stevie Aitken admitted he could not have asked for more from his players in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Rangers.

Aitken is adamant his side coped well against the team he is convinced will win this season’s Ladbrokes Championship.

Dumbarton proved difficult to break down for Rangers but ultimately couldn’t stop the Ibrox side winning their 11th game on the spin. It wasn’t until the 63rd minute that Martyn Waghorn broke the deadlock, 10 minute later he added another from the spot after Gregor Buchanan was dismissed for a last man foul on Kenny Miller. Garry Fleming pulled a goal back for the hosts from the penalty spot in the dying minutes.

He said: “In the first half especially we restricted them to one shot on goal and we hit the post. I thought the players competed really well.

“In terms of how far we have come in a short period of time, we only put the team together 12 weeks ago and they have competed with a team we all know is going to win the league. They will probably have it wrapped up by February if we’re honest. I can be really proud of the players.

“They did everything we asked of them, there are a few tired legs in there but I’m proud of every one of them.” The two complaints Aitken did have was the two moments of slackness from his side which led to the two goals. Martyn Waghorn was allowed too much room for the first goal, before the swerve on his 25 yard strike wrong footed Sons goalkeeper Mark Brown. Mark Docherty played a slack pass which led to the penalty for Waghorn’s second.

He said: “We were disappointed because Waghorn comes off too easy and turns on our back four, in the first half that didn’t happen. He has hit it and there is a bit of swerve on it, Mark is blocked a bit by one of our players and didn’t see it until late, these things happen but we are disappointed we didn’t shut the ball down. The second one is just a bad mistake.

“I’m delighted we got the goal at the end, I think we deserved that.”