Rangers’ heart and willingness to suffer have been called into question after Danny Rolle’s side lost 2-1 to league leaders Hearts, almost knocking them out of the Scottish Premiership title race.
Knowing a win would put them just one point behind the Jambos and Celtic, Rolle’s side looked as if they were in complete control of Tynecastle, taking the lead in the first half through Dujon Sterling.
However, a second-half comeback led by Stephen Kingsley and Lawrence Shankland left Rangers seven points behind at the top, and any hopes of winning the title were all but extinguished.
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Highlights of the Scottish Premiership match between Hearts and Rangers.
Losing to Motherwell in their last encounter has already given Rangers a mountain to climb, but with three games left the Ibrox side will need a miracle to turn the tide.
Club legend Kris Boyd criticized the players’ aspirations to win the title ahead of this Sunday’s Old Firm clash live on Sky Sports.
Sunday, May 10th 11am
Kickoff at 12pm
“Hearts are at the top of the table and have been for a number of months. They have to be prepared to suffer,” Boyd said.
“You have to defend properly. That’s the mentality. When you’re on the ball, it’s easy to say you’re good, but you have to suffer and you have to work.
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Rangers took the lead at Tynecastle and took an early lead against Hearts with Dujon Stirling’s deflected goal.
“Rangers could have done that today. But they didn’t. They allowed Hearts to get back into the game.”
“To win, you have to suffer. For me, for Rangers, the only thing they suffer from is defeat. We’ve been as low in the group as we’ve been since Roll came in.”
“But you can’t win trophies to get back into the league. You have to go on strike. Once again Rangers have failed. Two weeks ago Rangers were the bookmakers’ favourites. After two games they’re on a roll. It’s over.”
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Tynecastle are in high spirits as Lawrence Shankland scores home to turn things around in the second half.
Sutton: Tavernier has a “pea heart.”
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Chris Sutton was not happy with Rangers captain James Tavanier’s defending in the loss to Hearts.
It was to be a night to remember for soon-to-be-retired Rangers captain James Tavanier. He made his 564th appearance for the club, moving him into fifth place on the all-time appearances list.
However, the 34-year-old’s defending was called into question for Hearts’ two goals, with Chris Sutton forced to criticize the full-back’s heart at key moments.
“Look at the Rangers captain (Tavernier), this sums up his entire time at Rangers,” Sutton said after the game.
“He has a heart of a pea. He’s bad at both goals and he’ll react.
“He should have seen the danger and tried to stop it. He was so lazy that he killed the team there.”
Rolle calls for courage from Rangers in last three games
Rangers manager Rohr saw his team look like empty shells 45 minutes into the second half and wondered what the game would be like.
The former Sheffield Wednesday manager admitted the defending of both goals was not good enough and called for more courage from his players in the remaining run-in.
“It was too easy to concede the goal. We weren’t in the right position,” he told Sky Sports.
Rangers striker Youssef Chelmiti was spotted talking to Rangers fans after the defeat to Hearts
“You can’t just play 45 minutes at the highest level. Football is about 90 minutes and you have to do a lot of things right to get anything here.
“In the next three games I will ask them to do everything. We wear this club’s shirt and that means we have to show character, character and courage.”
“If you’re not ready to do everything you can to keep a clean sheet, this is what happens. It’s our fault that we lost today. It wasn’t their fault.”
Rangers last 3 games:
Sunday 10th May: Celtic (A) – 12pm kick-off, live on Sky Sports
Wednesday 13th May: Hibernian (H) – 8pm kick-off
Saturday 16th May: Falkirk (A) – Kick-off 12.30pm
