Danny Wilson welcomes competition for place in Rangers defence

Rangers centre-back Danny Wilson is determined to fight for his place as boss Mark Warburton prepares to step up his search for defensive reinforcements.

The Gers manager is still on the hunt for both a centre-back and striker but will make finding extra cover for his back-line the priority after Saturday's humbling friendly defeat to Burnley.

Clarets frontman Andre Gray made the most of chinks in the Light Blues' armour by bagging a hat-trick in a 3-1 victory at Ibrox.

Wilson and team-mate Rob Kiernan were Rangers' first-choice pairing in the centre of defence last season, but were not always convincing.

Former QPR defender Clint Hill arrived this summer among a batch of nine new signings but he was caught out for two of Gray's goals on Saturday and Warburton is looking for another option ahead of his side's Ladbrokes Premiership curtain-raiser with Hamilton on Saturday.

Wilson knows any new arrival will put his place at risk but believes increased competition will only help raise his game.

He said: Last season we were a little bit light and a few boys took their position for granted because there wasn't really the numbers there.

But we've already brought in more defenders so that means more competition. That can only be healthy for us all.

Whoever the manager brings in, I'll be looking to do the best I can to keep myself in the side.

This is a big club and we should be expecting competition and looking to thrive on it because we want to be the best we can be.''

Gers will finally bring an end to the four-year nightmare that followed their 2012 financial explosion when they make their top-flight return at home to Accies.

But Wilson admits Gers will need to be sharper than they were against Sean Dyche's team.

That was an ideal test before next week,'' the former Hearts captain said.After the build-up we've had, this was always going to be the test and we weren't quite up to it.

It's disappointing but it shows we've got a lot of work to do. If it's going to act as an early wake-up call, it's better now than six or 10 games into the season.

We can address it now and move forward. It's important we don't play like that too often in the Premiership.

The biggest lesson from Burnley is their work ethic and how they press as a team. We have to develop that.

We have a lot of talent but hard work has to come first.

All over the pitch, we can do better and we fell a bit short (on Saturday). But we'll learn from it and won't get too down.

There has been a big build-up because we're back in the Premiership. The game against Hamilton will be a sell-out and we'll need to produce a performance.

But that's no different to any game at Ibrox.''