McAllister: Celebrates his goal for Peterhead
Youngster Barrie McKay opened his Rangers account with what should have been a goal to savour on Saturday, before second-half goals from Rory McAllister and McLaughlin saw the home side surge into the lead.
Andy Little then grabbed a late equaliser and a share of the points for Ally McCoist's men.
"If you get ahead in the game, you think you're going to win it," McLaughlin told Sky Sports One.
"We're a little disappointed with the result at the end, although before the game we would have taken a draw any day.
"We always knew they were going to come at us a bit but we gave a great account of ourselves and we can be proud."
McAllister also took some positives from the game, saying: "We've got a good chance of chasing them for the rest of the season if we can keep playing the way we are."
Rangers manager Ally McCoist was unhappy with his side's defending, which he felt cost them three points in their opening match in the Irn-Bru Third Division.
"I was relieved to get a point after the game," he said.
"I thought we defended appallingly to be honest. We didn't match their aggression.
"If the boys at any time thought this was going to be a cake-walk, they know where they are now."
He added: "It's the first game, we're not going to start panicking. Poor defending is a concern but we can certainly create and score goals.
"I have to give enormous credit to Peterhead and (manager) Jim McInally. They played superbly today.
Rangers defender Carlos Bocanegra was also impressed by Peterhead's display.
"It was a tough game," said the American.
"They fought and kicked until the end and that's something we can expect all season, but we have to give credit to them.
"We had a few chances but we didn't finish them. It's frustrating but that's probably what it's going to be like this season.
"We need to play better. We got ourselves in trouble a little bit with our passing, we didn't finish opportunities and we didn't defend well either, so we've got to clean those things up."
