STEVEN GERRARD hopes Rangers will learn from their mistakes against Blackburn after being denied another victory at Ibrox.

The Light Blues saw their perfect pre-season run come to an end on Sunday as Tony Mowbray’s side earned a 1-1 friendly draw.

Rangers were well on top in the first half and deservedly lead through a Jermain Defoe header.

But Lewis Travis gave the travelling Rovers fans something to cheer as he levelled 25 minutes from time.

Gerrard said: “I was pleased with a lot of it, disappointed with the outcome in terms of the result.

“I thought we had enough chances throughout the game to win the game. I thought we were very comfortable in the first 45 minutes and even at the start of the second half. I think making the substitutions meant we lost a little bit of organisation and shape and we obviously turned the ball over in a crucial area of the pitch and we paid for it.

“I think the two learning points we can take from the game is that we have to be more ruthless in front of goal when we are playing well and are in control we have to take our chances and kill teams off.

“It’s pretty clear that if you turn the ball over in the wrong areas of the pitch against good players and good teams you can pay for it. We’ve experienced that before, against teams like Aberdeen and Hibs so it shows that pre-season has been really good so far but we still need to learn and improve.

“We hammered it home at half-time and before the game we said Blackburn have good players they are a good team who play in a good, competitive league so it’s very important that we’re at it all the way through the game. We made them aware that if you do make costly errors good players will punish you and that’s what happened.”

Rangers had seen off Oxford United, Marseille and St Joseph’s ahead of the visit of Blackburn and will return to competitive action when they face Progres Niederkorn in the Europa League this week.

Boss Gerrard was able to once again rotate his Light Blues squad from the start and during the game as he continues his preparations for the new Premiership campaign.

Defender Filip Helander made his Gers debut from the bench following his move from Bologna a fortnight ago, while Jamie Murphy continued his comeback from a long-term knee injury as he got more match minutes.

Gerrard said: “You’ve got to respect the squad and the players.

“With all due respect the result is not the be-all-and-end-all today but it’s still important.

“It is still about fine-tuning and pushing the fitness and making sure people are getting game time.

“Obviously it’s two different situations, we have a new signing who is a week or ten days into his pre-season he’s probably a couple of weeks away from the group. And Jamie has missed a year of football.

“Jamie will still play in reserve games but it’s important I give him time in front of the crowd as well so he can get his touch back and his feel.

“But we know there’s still a bit of a way back for Jamie, he needs a lot of game and training to sharpen up and fine tune.

“I was pleased with Filip he came on at a difficult time with a lot of changes. The rhythm of the game and our organisation went a little bit when he came on but I still think he did okay.”

The move for Helander was the eighth that Gerrard has completed this summer and the immediate focus now at Ibrox is on trimming the large first team squad that the 39-year-old currently has at his disposal.

Gerrard confirmed there are no bids on the table for Alfredo Morelos after he was linked with Frankfurt, while Newcastle and Dijon haven’t made moves for James Tavernier or Borna Barisic respectively.

Daniel Candeias is closing in on a deal with Genclerbirligi and boss Gerrard said: “I haven’t got an update. I think he has gone over to have the discussions and do whatever else you do when you move clubs.”