It’s been coming – Jack Butland delighted with Rangers return to form

Jack Butland admits Rangers return to top form has been “too long coming” as he hailed their 1-1 draw against Tottenham on Thursday night.

The Light Blues will go into Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final against Celtic at Hampden Park on a high following the pulsating Europa League clash against the big-money English giants at Ibrox.

Rangers took a deserved lead through Moroccan striker Hamza Igamane two minutes into the second half, but Spurs’ half-time substitute Dejan Kulusevski equalised in the 75th minute and only a terrific late save by former Celtic keeper Fraser Forster denied Philippe Clement’s side all three points.

The Gers have looked a changed side since drawing 1-1 at home against Dundee United last month and are now nine games unbeaten and on course for the knockout stages of the Europa League.

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Goalkeeper Butland said: “It was really good but even with that, we’re in the dressing room and (saying) what could have been.

“We felt that we deserved to win the game and one moment sort of took that away from us.

“So it’s a testament to how well the boys played, that we’re a little bit disappointed at the same time as being really proud of what we did.

“And that’s how quickly it can change. If you put in the performances, you put in the work and you work for each other, you are then in a better position to show the quality that the boys have.

“And when we play as a collective unit like that, we can cause any team problems and we showed that. So really proud of that.

“It’s been coming, too long coming, but we’re getting there.

“We’re building some momentum and it’s important that we continue that on Sunday. We have to and that’s all that matters now.

“We will look at things we should have done better, things that we did do really well and take the confidence from it, but it’s proof what we are capable of doing. So it should give everybody lots of confidence.”

Butland believes Rangers have got back to basics in recent weeks as they plough through a busy fixture list.

He said: “Winning is a habit and if you don’t do smaller things right that can lead into doing bigger things wrong and ultimately results not going your way.

“So we’ve really sort of focused on getting some basics right, that perhaps we lost at times and that’s just allowed us to be to be solid, clean sheets and picking up results, and that’s given us the opportunity to do that a bit momentum.

“That’s what playing for this club is all about. There’s games every three or four days.

“Some of them aren’t pretty and they can’t be at times but when given the opportunity, you’ve got to put in performances and we’re doing that at the minute.”