While most Rangers fans are celebrating a titanic victory against Hibs, which was in all fairness an epic encounter, Ibrox Noise remains incredibly frustrated at the draw at Fir Park. As we explained in a previous entry, the Hearts match was kind of a no win situation for Rangers. No matter what the result was, it was not strictly going to help us. That is to say, a victory would close the gap on Hearts as it did to two points, but it would also help our bitter rivals Celtic.
Frustration
They now have less of a gap to overcome to catch Hearts themselves. The big reason this matters is because they have a game in hand. Currently, Celtic are only one point behind Rangers, without that game in hand. Added, however, is the presumed three points they will win. That would put them joint top with Hearts. Unfortunately, Rangers will be lagging behind the pair of them. Admittedly, it is not a huge gap. It is two points. However, it is extremely frustrating that it will not be all three joint top in light of that Motherwell result.
The Fir Park Fallout
That really was a huge ball dropped by Danny Rohl. He got it mostly right against Hearts. Defensively, it was a bit of a mess. Once again, he struck lucky with Youssef Chermiti. We will get to him in a separate entry. However, most of it was correct on the day, give or take.
It was a huge win for Rangers. There were a few conditions attached to the victory. We will talk about those later. However, as you may have suspected from your extremely “optimistic” Ibrox Noise regulars, we are not blown away by this victory.
Why the Win Feels Hollow
We are not overreacting to it. We already said pre match that the Fir Park result had diluted any success in this one. Basically, had we lost, it would have put us out of the title race. That would have been almost certain. If we drew or better, it would only help Celtic even more.
It is a frustrating situation. Rangers have frequently been our own worst enemies this season. Sometimes it is the manager. Sometimes it is the players. Sometimes it is substitutions or tactics. There have been so many mistakes.
Context and Conditions
This is, however, Danny Rohl’s first meaningful victory against a side in good form, give or take. Even that has conditions attached. Hearts were missing two of their best three players. They only had Claudio Braga. There was no Cammy Devlin. There was no Lawrence Shankland.
That means Hearts have not been at their strongest since those two were injured. The same applies to Celtic. They have not been at their best since Jota and Carter Vickers went out.
Rangers, on the other hand, are not missing anyone pivotal at the moment. There is no big player unavailable right now. In fact, the noise about injuries at Ibrox has gone down lately as we discussed earlier. Aside Cornelius and Barron, of course.
Title Race Reality
Nevertheless, while we are obviously pleased with the win, we remain extremely frustrated. The implications of the Fir Park result still loom large. Right now, the league remains Celtic’s to lose. The simple reality is that they are the favourites.
Yesterday’s result does not really change that. This is true even although many Rangers fans remain optimistic. Ibrox Noise are always more cautious.
Consequently, while we are pleased with the result, we remain on the fence. We are unsure about Rangers’ chances of winning the league this season. It will certainly be a rollercoaster. That is for sure.