It was a frustrating result for Rangers last night as they conceded a late equaliser to ten men Motherwell at Fir Park and now the crunch game against Hearts is MUST win.
This Scottish Premiership season has been one for the ages and it’s delivered a title race that nobody could have predicted between Hearts, Rangers and Celtic.
The Jambos have been sitting top of the league for the past four months and Derek McInnes deserves all the credit in the world for the incredible job he’s doing at Tynecastle.
Danny Rohl is another man who has done an exceptional job since arriving in Glasgow and has worked wonders with what is an average squad.
After the sacking of Russell Martin in October, many believed the Light Blues were dead and buried and had no chance of getting back into the title race.
Rohl has won 13 of his 18 league games in charge and has got the Ibrox club right back in the title hunt.
Before the draw against the Steelmen, the German head coach hadn’t really put a foot wrong but last night he got the tactics and substitutions all wrong.
The Gers never tried to kill the game off after the Well got Lukas Fadinger sent off. Rohl decided to put ten men behind the ball and see the result out, which backfired.
It felt like a defeat conceding so late on and in a title race every game is a cup final and after failing to win last night – the pressure to get a victory against the league leaders at Ibrox this Sunday is even more intense and important than it already was before.
The Teddy Bears are five points behind the Gorgie club and a point ahead of the Hoops who have a game in hand.
The 49ers fully backed their man in the January window bringing in four signings and spent around £12 million.
That was a clear sign that the Ibrox higher ups aren’t messing about and want to win the club’s 56th league title.
There’s been many twists and turns in this historic Premiership season with many more to come but if Rohl’s side were to lose to McInnes’ men and if the Hoops beat Kilmarnock – it’ll be a monumental task to get back into the race.
Rohl’s last outing against the Jam Tarts was a 2-1 defeat – his only league loss.
The 36-year-old needs to go with his strongest side and not tinker things about with the team selection like he did last night.
This will be a real test of this Rangers squads mentality because the pressure is fully on them to get a result and Hearts will be right up for the occasion.
Sunday will be Rohl’s biggest and most important game so far in his managerial career and it’s one he cannot afford to lose.
