Rangers Suffer Consecutive Losses, Fall to Third in Scottish Premiership

Rangers' title challenge has collapsed in two games. They sit seven points behind the Scottish Premiership leaders and four points off second place.

Manager Danny Rohl's side had worked hard to enter the race, in his own words. Eight days after a 3-2 home loss to Motherwell on a stoppage-time goal, Rohl took his team to Tynecastle. They needed a win or draw to stay in contention.

At halftime, Rangers led on Dujon Sterling's deflected volley. Their play justified the advantage.

Hearts scored twice in the second half for a 2-1 victory. Rangers managed only a late header off the bar by Thelo Aasgaard and showed no real recovery.

That exposed Rangers' weakness this season: failure to perform over a full 90 minutes.

"We knew they would come with power," Rohl told BBC Scotland. "They played much more direct in behind. We had less pressure on the ball and had to defend in critical areas very often. We have to learn from this. We have a young, potential squad, but this is a job in the next weeks and months to improve."

The squad's youth and inexperience explain some inconsistency. Against Motherwell, Rangers trailed 2-0 at halftime, improved after the break, equalized, then conceded again. They had conceded two first-half goals but won 6-3 at Falkirk previously. They recovered from two down to draw with Livingston and led Celtic 2-0 at halftime before a 2-2 draw.

The Celtic, Motherwell, and Hearts matches erased earlier progress under Rohl. Twelve league draws hurt too.

Rangers lost just twice in 33 games before the split. Now they have dropped consecutive matches at the decisive stage.

Former Rangers forward Kris Boyd assessed the Tynecastle loss on Sky Sports. "There will be mentality questions asked of Rangers," he said. "Hearts have been top for months. You have to expect suffering in the second half and that's mentality. You have to dig in and get a result, but they didn't. Rangers had to strike and once again they didn't - they have failed."

Ex-Celtic forward Chris Sutton agreed. "They have spent a fortune this season, so there will be questions asked. This isn't a one-off, Rangers choking."

Rohl pushed back. "This is not about mentality. Everyone who plays football knows what happens if the home team scores the equaliser, then the crowd is there. The crowd in the first half was very quiet. It's not enough to play 45 minutes on a high level, you have to play 90 minutes on your highest level."

Rohl arrived in October to replace Russell Martin. Rangers then trailed Hearts by 13 points and Celtic by eight after a major summer overhaul. Form improved to put them one point behind Hearts and ahead of Celtic by mid-April. Recent losses dropped them to third. Rohl averages 2.22 points per league game, above Derek McInnes's 2.11 at Hearts but below Martin O'Neill's 2.5 for Celtic's Premiership matches.

Rangers need a win at Celtic Park on Sunday plus Hearts dropping points at Motherwell the night before to stay alive. Two games remain. Defeat Sunday would mean third place, their first since 2018.

Rangers' 3-1 win at Celtic in December ended Wilfried Nancy's brief stint there. Rohl has yet to beat O'Neill, who took over in January.

Early in his job, Rohl faced O'Neill's interim Celtic at Hampden. Rangers lost 3-1 after extra time despite a comeback with 10 men following Aasgaard's red card.

In March's Scottish Cup quarter-final at Ibrox, Celtic won on penalties after 120 goalless minutes.

"It's over when it's over and it means it's not over because we have still three games to go," Rohl said. "The last two games bring us in a really difficult situation. We worked so hard to come to this point and then you lose two times, so tight 2-1 and 3-2, and this is not good enough for the moment. What I demand from my group now is show personality and courage for the next three games and this is our job to do."

Captain James Tavernier plans to leave this summer. Six loanees end their spells, and Jack Butland enters his contract's final year. More turnover looms.

"We will analyse the season - what was right, what was wrong, what we have to improve and then I'm totally convinced from the summer on, we go again," Rohl, 37, said. "How we make decisions in moments, this is really a part that we really have to improve."