Source: Team_Talk
Passion of Gers pleases Naismith
The Scottish champions may have been held to a 1-1 draw at Ibrox on Saturday but they produced one of their best displays of the season to prevent an impressive Hibs side from leapfrogging them in the Scottish Premier League.
It was a far cry from the efforts of Walter Smith's men in the Champions League last Tuesday when they took an early lead only to collapse to a 4-1 defeat against little-known Romanians Unirea Urziceni.
Asked how important it was to respond to that reverse, Naismith admitted: "It was massive. All the boys knew it was not good enough for a team like Rangers to perform the way we did midweek.
"The whole performance wasn't good enough. We got off to a great start and a team like Rangers should be pushing on and looking for a second to try to kill the game.
"But we looked nervous and couldn't string two passes together and we ended up with a thrashing.
"As a few of the boys have already said, we have probably deserved that since the start of the season."
Naismith feels Rangers have now gone some way to answering their critics with the draw against Hibs.
"The passion and attitude was there," he said. "The amount of chances we created was something we hadn't done in previous weeks.
"In any home game you've got to look at it as two points dropped.
"But the performance was far better than in recent games, where we haven't created as many chances.
"With the amount of chances we created this time, we should probably have won the game.
"If you don't take your chances, the other team will go up the park and score and that was the story of the game really."
A win would have propelled Hibernian into pole position ahead of Celtic's match at Hamilton, and Naismith admits he has been impressed by what he has seen of John Hughes' side so far.
He said: "Since the start of the season they have definitely been a team with confidence and they play good football and they get results.
"It's not as though they have just popped up from nowhere. John Hughes is a good manager and he has made some really good signings.
"They are definitely one of the better teams and I'm sure they will be pushing for a European spot come the end of the season."
Kris Boyd fired Rangers into the lead after just eight minutes, before Anthony Stokes claimed a point from a match that both sides had chances to win.
And, while Naismith fully expects Hibs to be challenging for a Europa League spot next term, Stokes' own ambitions for the Edinburgh club are slightly loftier.
He said: "We've got to be thinking about third place and that will be tough. But, at the same time, I don't see why we can't try and compete with the Old Firm to be honest.
"I know that's a massive statement and I've said it to a few people who have laughed.
"But you have to set your stall out to keep improving and I think we have shown from the start of the season we are gradually getting there."
Stokes added: "We have to believe that every time we come to either of the Old Firm's grounds that we are going to get a result and that we are good enough to.
"Otherwise they will end up beating us 4-0 or 5-0 and we don't want to go back to those days.
"We have to come here and compete and let them know they have been in a game.
"We are coming away from here slightly disappointed with a draw and that says a lot."
