Before Rangers’ Europa League match against Sturm Graz, Russell Martin expressed his pleasure following his first Scottish Premiership victory as manager. Rangers defeated Livingston late at Ibrox for their first league victory of the season and fifth overall after a wild start to their domestic campaign.
Rangers began their Europa League campaign with a disappointing 1-0 defeat against Genk, as Mohamed Diomande received a red card in the first half. But after picking up some much-needed momentum at the weekend, Martin is aiming to record more victories to kickstart his tenure. “I’m looking forward to it, especially off the back of a good feeling in the group after Sunday,” Martin said. “I believe it’s been a good week. We had a difficult evening last Thursday because we had a man sent off for a long period of time, so that wasn’t easy, but they stuck together through that. “Beat Hibs, played well, played better against Livingston, especially in the first half. Should have scored a few more goals. “And then we showed a lot of character and dug in together and showed a lot of spirit, a lot of fight and willingness to run. That’s really increased over the last three or four weeks, that feeling of spirit in the group. So I’ve enjoyed that. “I’m looking forward to seeing what they put on the pitch.” Sturm Graz have played Rangers twice before in European competition, winning one and losing one of their matches against the Scottish outfit in the first group stage of the 2000-01 Champions League. Rangers have won five of their seven European games against Austrian sides (L2), though four of those victories came on home soil, while they have also lost just two of their last nine away games in major European competition (W4 D3), scoring two or more goals in each of their victories in this period.