Stephen Glass insists Aberdeen were guilty of showing Rangers too much respect after being downed by four goals without reply to fuel an Ibrox title party.
The Dons boss believes it was too little, too late for his side after a series of self-inflicted wounds which included an own goal by keeper Joe Lewis in the fifth minute as they were dismantled by Steven Gerrard's champions.
Glass accused his side of standing on ceremony and being masters of their own downfall despite an improvement after the interval.
He said: “In the first half we weren’t good enough. We showed Rangers a little bit too much respect.
“We didn’t get close enough to them and allowed them to play.
“But as poor as we were in the first-half the two goals Rangers scored came from two deflections.
“In the second half I thought we looked like a different team altogether and just didn’t take our opportunities.
“They didn’t kick the ball for 15 minutes. So it was a good response in the second half but overall a very disappointing day for us with both the result and the manner of the goals.
“The aggression of our pressure in the second half was a lot better and we created good chances.
“But it has to be like that from minute one. To come to a place like this you have to be producing that level of performance that we did in the second half.
“If you don’t do that then you get what’s coming."
Glass refused to play the blame game with keeper Lewis and he's adamant a poor start and a few bad breaks was their undoing.
He said: “Conceding the early goal makes a difficult task even harder. I’ve not asked Joe about it yet but I spoke to Marsh and it sounds like he’s reacting to the touch on the ball as it’s coming over.
“He was trying to predict where the ball was going and it’s hit his hand. There was then a deflection for the second one as well.
"As good as Rangers were it was two deflections that did us. That makes it frustrating.
“The chances missed in the second half. Ryan Hedges had one, Fraser Hornby had a couple and Lewis Ferguson had a couple too.
"But when you start the game like we did her then it’s an uphill task. I don’t feel positive on the back of a result like this, but I’ve seen encouraging signs since I’ve been at the club.
“I do know what’s needed to change things and I’ll make the changes that’s required, when we can.
“We’ll continue building and the players now know how we work. We have had a few disappointments along the way and this is another one.”
