SCOTT Brown says his Ayr side need to “learn quickly” ahead of their Scottish Cup clash at Ibrox.

The Honest Men face Rangers in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup this weekend, Saturday February 10, and will be hoping to cause an almighty shock.

And manager Brown is hoping his players can use this weekend’s loss to Scottish Championship table toppers Dundee United as a “learning curve” before they head to face Phillippe Clement’s side.

Ayr lost 2-1 to The Terrors in what was Brown’s first match in the dugout at Somerset Park.

Jim Goodwin’s men overturned an early 1-0 deficit after Jamie Murphy gave the home side the lead – with Tony Watt and Ross Docherty goals turning the tie.

Speaking to Ayr United TV (AUTV) after the game, Brown said that the positive showing by his side against such strong opposition gives shows what they are capable of heading into the Ibrox showdown.

He said: “It gives you confidence because that’s against a Premiership team.

“Playing against those top quality players gives you have that understanding that if you jump out of position – someone will find a pass.

“It’s small details for us, you switch off for two or three seconds and you lose a goal or you misplace an easy pass and they counter attack.

“For us it’s a learning curve, but we need to learn quickly.”

Though the positive performance against Dundee United also left the Ayr boss devastated – that his side came away with nothing to show for their efforts.

He told AUTV: “We’re sitting in there devastated. We’ve just got to all take responsibility together, make sure we know what the problem is.

“I’m impressed with the lads since coming in – their work ethic, their understanding of the game, their willingness and desire.

“Take nothing away from Dundee United, they’re a top team, they’re going to go up, they should be in the Premiership.

“For us, we’ve managed to compete and I’m just a little bit devastated that we didn’t stay in the game and get at least a point for the lads and the fans.”

It wasn’t the only frustration for the Ayr manager, who was left confused by the red card handed the George Stanger during added time at the end of the match.

Stanger was shown a second yellow card after he protested, at a distance, the award of a free kick to the match referee Gavin Duncan.

While the Somerset Park boss also felt that the away side were perhaps lucky to keep 11 players on the pitch.

Brown told AUTV: “I don’t know how he’s managed to get sent off, the referee said he put his hands up in the air after (Dundee United were given) a free kick.

"Obviously he’s not allowed to be disappointed with the free kick.

“Somebody’s headbutted Nick (McAllister), he says, so we need to look into that and see what happened – there were too many bodes in there and the referee or two linesmen didn’t see that.”

Though as he focussed again on the positives, Brown commented that it was clear to see the changes that must be made to ensure performances like the weekend’s turn into results in future.

He added: “I thought we played really well, we defended well, it was just two sloppy goals that we’ve managed to let in.

“I feel for the two centre halves as well because they’ve worked extremely hard, squeezing the game. It’s maybe something that they’ve not done before they done it really well today.

“We probably had the more clear cut chances – we just weren’t ruthless enough in the final third.”

Full match highlights and post match interviews can be found at ayrunitedfc.co.uk/ayr-united-tv.