Two goals in each half did the damage for the home side, but The Bees created a host of chances with the Rangers keeper forced into a number of smart stops to keep a clean sheet.

Discussing the defeat, Arthur said: “It was a really tough game; they had a lot of first team and experienced players. I thought, overall, we did well and we kept the ball well and created a lot of chances, but they were a lot better in both boxes and we conceded a couple of sloppy goals and they were clinical. We had chances but we didn’t take them unfortunately.

“The first half was very good, we were playing out from the back and we created some good chances, but it was one of those games where they were very good and very disciplined. They countered well and we gave away a sloppy penalty.

“There were positives, our bravery to get on the ball against an older team. They have players that have won the Premier League and they’ve got some experienced Scottish players there. I feel like overall there are positives to take out of the game, the way we went about the whole performance.”

Arthur gave away a penalty which gave Rangers the chance to double their lead, and whilst David Titov felt he could well have been awarded a penalty in the second period, Arthur admitted that the penalty conceded was the correct decision.

He continued: “David’s sounded like a penalty and the one that I gave away was 100% a penalty to be fair, so it’s one of them things that we’ll move on from.”