Bojan Miovski spoke of the “first of many” goals for Rangers after opening his Gers account in the 2-0 Premier Sports Cup quarter-final win over Hibernian at Ibrox on Saturday.
The 26-year-old North Macedonia striker was forced to feed on scraps in his first two games for the Light Blues after signing from Girona, the goalless home draw against Celtic and the 2-0 defeat by Hearts at Ibrox.
However, there was more joy on a fractious day when thousands of Gers fans stayed away and many of those in the official crowd of 32,682 protested against boss Russell Martin and chief executive Patrick Stewart outside and inside the stadium.
The former Aberdeen striker pounced at the end of the first half to knock in Rangers’ second after a Mikey Moore shot had been deflected into his path, after returning midfielder Nicolas Raskin had headed the Gers in front from a James Tavernier corner in the 42nd minute.
Miovski also had a goal chalked off for offside and an effort cleared off the line by Hibs defender Grant Hanley in Rangers’ first win in six but after getting off the mark he is confident of more to come.
He said: “Of course, I’m happy, first of many. I will keep going.
“We dominated the game, we pressed really well and we didn’t rush this final pass.
“We were a little bit more calm and, of course, we scored that first important goal and after the second we just stayed together.
“We had a couple of chances in the second half to kill the game but overall, we are happy with the performance.
“As a striker, you need to be always focused and patient because the teams are defending really deep. So I need to stay focused all the time.”
Under-fire Martin revealed he was giving the team talk in the dressing room when over 1,000 fans were outside chanting for the removal of him and Stewart.
Miovski said: “We keep it, as a team, in the dressing room.
“We know that a lot of things are happening outside of the dressing room, but we need to stick together and focus on football and winning football games.”
Rangers begin their Europa League campaign with a home game against Belgian side Genk on Thursday night and Miovski is hoping the win over Hibs is a turning point in the season.
He said: “We had a good performance and it gives us confidence for the future.
“We have a lot of new players in the team. I was away with the national team, some of the other players as well. So we had a full-week training (last week) and we showed that we can play good football.
“Of course, we feel positive. It’s always nice when you play in Europe so we are really looking forward to Thursday.”
Hibs head coach David Gray bemoaned missed chances and poor goals conceded then turned his attention to Falkirk in the William Hill Premiership on Tuesday where he aims to get back to winning ways.
He said: “I’m not going to be get carried away and be too downhearted about what I’ve got.
“I know we need to improve. I say it all the time and it’s certainly no time to feel sorry for ourselves with Falkirk on Tuesday night, an opportunity straight away to get back on the pitch to try to put right Saturday’s result.”
