Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha believes that the club is progressing despite dropping points in recent games.

The Scottish club drew 0-0 against a resilient Hearts of Midlothian side at Ibrox on Sunday. This setback comes after last week’s disappointing defeat against Hibernian.

“Of course I know this football club is about winning games,” said Caixinha.

“And we know that the boys we have down there in the dressing room are winners. So we keep working in that direction.

“We know we are going to face more opponents like this, respecting us, so that is one point. When I arrived at Ibrox last season I understood that other teams were not respecting us, and today I feel that respect from the way the teams approach the game. That is one step ahead.

“We are winners and they are winners and we know that only with hard work and working together we are going to get the results.”

Caixinha reckons the fact that Hearts striker Kyle Lafferty spent most of the 90 minutes as a make-shift left back means that their Scottish Premiership rivals are weary of the threat his team possesses.

“I am not surprised [by how defensive Hearts were], just surprised in a good way about how opponents are respecting us

“You see a very good striker like Lafferty spends all the entire match acting more like a left-back than a left winger so that shows the respect they show to us.

“That is the reality, we need to face it and we need to have solutions to turn back what opponents come up with. We need to learn how to beat lower blocks and teams that are more concerned about defence than attack but that is football and part of the game as well.”

Rangers have won just nine games out of 17 under the 46-year-old’s tutelage but Caixinha did not look too concerned when it was pointed out to him that his side are lagging behind other title challengers.

“It is very early, don’t ask it,” he said. “That is the reality of the points, if it is early or it is late, we are focused on our task, our work and we will keep doing it.

“We always said we go game by game. It is difficult for us, we are disappointed because of the last six points available we have taken just one but we are focused on the next one.”

The Light Blues sit at sixth on the table picking up just four points from three games this season and will face Ross County away from home in their next Premiership fixture.