MICKY MELLON reckons Dundee United's Ibrox defeat will prove to be a valuable learning experience for his side.

The visitors went down 4-0 on Saturday as Ryan Kent and James Tavernier netted in the first half and Kemar Roofe and Scott Arfield scored after the break.

Gers boss Steven Gerrard praised the approach from United and Mellon is confident there were plenty of positives to take from an encouraging showing.

He said: “We know, coming away from here, what we need to work on and where we need to improve to get better.

“We had a chat at the end of the game and next week we'll try to improve as a Championship team who have come to this level against a top Rangers side.

“That doesn't mean we don't have the appetite to try and get better.

“We were determined to come here and have a go because that's the type of Dundee United team I want to be the manager of.

“I don't want to sit on our own 18 yard box and hope for the best. We wanted to give it a go but we know what we need to improve on.

“There were periods of the game we did OK in. I'll look over it but the most disappointing thing was losing four goals.

“In bits of our play, we just need to be better with the football. And we need to show a bit more belief when we get into dangerous areas and create opportunities.

“Those are things that we knew we'd find out about at Ibrox. So we'll work on them to move us forward."