John Souttar insists it was 'small margins' that defined Lyon rout as he issues bullish Rangers defence

John Souttar has vowed Rangers will deliver a rapid response to their Lyon letdown.

The Ibrox defender is adamant lessons will be learned after the Europa League flogging from the French flyers. But Souttar says the sore one does not simply mean his team can’t compete with the elite of Europe’s second tournament going forward this term. The stopper and his team-mates were left deflated and frustrated after being jolted by Lyon’s livewires.

Philippe Clement’s team were sunk 4-1 as a four-game winning run came to a crashing end at the hands of the Ligue 1 cracks. However, Souttar is adamant the Light Blues will roar straight back. The Belgian boss and his troops now face St Johnstone on Sunday night as they aim to make an immediate recovery from the Euro setback.

Souttar is determined the Lyon lament doesn’t wreck momentum which had been building prior to the contest and said: “Definitely. I think any club in the world is going to have bad nights and good nights and it is how you respond. I am positive we have got a group in there who will respond. It is one night. We were not at our best. We can’t let it affect us going forward. We need to bounce back and we need to do that Sunday.”

Rangers face additional fresh factors going into the encounter against Saints. The match will kick-off at 8pm due to The Great Scottish Run taking place earlier in the day.

In addition, the visitors will also be lifted by the appointment of new manager Simo Valakari who will take charge of his Perth team for the first time at Ibrox. But Souttar says such issues will be pushed aside as he added: “I think the boys will just be desperate to bounce back, so whatever the kick-off was, we will just be looking forward to that.”

As Rangers look to get