Thelo Aasgaard backs Rangers to stick to principles after Genk loss as pressure mounts on boss Russell Martin

Thelo Aasgaard insists Rangers need to stick to their principles after losing their first Europa League fixture to Genk on Thursday night.

A 2-0 Premier Sports Cup win at home to Hibernian last weekend gave under-fire boss Russell Martin some much-needed respite but that dissolved after another poor performance against the Belgian side at Ibrox.

The visitors carried the bigger threat before and after Gers midfielder Mohamed Diomande was deservedly shown a straight red card in the 41st minute for a reckless challenge on Zakaria El Ouahdi.

In added time in the first half, Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland saved a penalty from former Celtic striker Oh Hyeon-gyu, but the South Korean eventually fired in the winner in the 55th minute and again fans turned on Martin, who has just four wins in 14 games since taking over in the summer.

Ahead of the visit to Livingston in the William Hill Premiership on Sunday, Aasgaard, the 23-year-old Norway midfielder who signed from Luton in the summer, said: “We’ve got to just try and focus on what we’ve done on the training pitch.

“Obviously, with the situation with the fans, that’s understandable.

“But we’ve got to try and not feel the pressure and keep to our principles.

“We created some decent chances with 10 men, it’s disappointing.

“We’re just trying to stick to our principles and we want the crowd to go out there and see a team that they really believe in.

“Everyone is desperate to do that.

“So we’ve just got to pick ourselves up. We really wanted to carry on the momentum from the last game, so the general feeling is, really disappointed, and we’ll have to review and pick ourselves up.

“It’s always hard when you go down to 10. We still tried to take the ball and we created some good chances and we could have been a bit more clinical but again, it’s always tough.

“We’re desperate to do that (bounce back against Livi).

“Like I said before, we were desperate to back up our result on the weekend and we look forward to Sunday now.”

Aasgaard admits he has never experienced the sense of crisis around the Ibrox club, with fans’ frustration directed at Martin in particular.

He said: “Not personally, but I’m never going to back down from a challenge.

“This is a big challenge and, like I said, I’m not going to back down.”