Rangers Head Coach Danny Rohl is dejected (Image: SNS Group)
Danny Rohl was torn by the end of their battle with Livingston.
And not just because this pulsating Premiership title race is emotionally dragging him from one extreme to another. After his Rangers team fought back to get a 2-2 draw in West Lothian—when it looked like all was lost at one stage—he was delighted with the character they showed.
But at the same time, the Ibrox boss was left scratching his head about exactly why his side found themselves 2-0 down in the first place. After the high of last weekend’s top-of-the-table victory over Hearts at Ibrox, Rangers were in a hole against the league’s bottom dogs.
Rohl’s men found themselves two goals down, after strikes from Brooklyn Kabongolo and Lewis Smith, and facing more question marks about their character and bottle. At certain points in the game, with Livi keeper Jerome Prior saving everything thrown at home, it was difficult to see the visitors scoring one, never mind two goals.
But Cristian Montano’s red card gave them a clear route back into it. And thanks to Emmanuel Fernandez’s strike and Mikey Moore’s header, Rangers found a way to salvage something.
Rohl said after the Hearts win that their mentality shouldn’t be questioned again. At 2-0 down here, though, it felt like that fragility and inability to get the job done when it really mattered was rearing its head again.
So afterwards, Rohl was in a bit of a quandary. Should he be delighted at his players’ resilience in not suffering a defeat against Marvin Bartley’s strugglers?
Or livid that, after showing their capabilities against Derek McInnes’ men a week ago, they shipped two points they can ill-afford to lose?
Given Rangers are still in the title mix, albeit now four behind the Jambos, Rohl refused to have a go at his players – but admits there are still areas of their game they MUST improve in the run-in.
He said: “We are disappointed that we dropped two points.
“Is it difficult to be pleased at fighting back or annoyed that we were in that position?
“Yeah, I think my team are more disappointed after the game because we missed this opportunity to carry on with a two-point gap to Hearts.
“But my job is to lift them and to give them a clear picture now.
“As it is, we’ve come from six points to three, from five points to two – and now we are four and can maybe get to one.
“We have to make it step by step. There’s 10 games to go and it’s a tough race.
“But I see footballers really ready for this, even though we dropped two points today.
“We’ll go again and again.
“I think we are disappointed that we dropped two points and it was unnecessary.
“And we knew exactly before the game that they will have two or three moments. Livingston look for set plays.
Rangers Mikey Moore celebrates after scoring to make it 2-2 vs Livingston(Image: SNS Group)
“And in these two or three moments, we missed it.”
Rangers were toiling at 2-0 down, even though Prior was having the game of his life in goals for Livi.
If it wasn’t for a brilliant Tuur Rommens tackle on Smith in the first half, the visitors might have been two down even earlier.
Their fans knew how desperate the situation was and let under-performing players know about it.
But Rohl believes the support they got towards the end of the game when they fought back for a point was vital.
And he felt they could have had more when Mikey Moore was denied a penalty after a challenge from Cammy Kerr on the edge of the box.
He said: “In the first minutes, we were good in the game.
“We had a big chance after our set play for the 1-0.
“But if you’re then 2-0 down, it’s tough. It’s a tough place to come. “Finally, we tried everything and I think we showed big character in the group.
“I really have to praise the supporters today, they were outstanding.
“Over the 100 minutes, they supported us in every minute, it was great. And finally we scored for the 2-2.
“We can speak about one crucial moment in the game (Kerr tackle).
“But this is not an excuse. We had 100 minutes to decide this game earlier.”
At half-time, Rohl had to earn his corn by rallying his players for a comeback.
But with his words still ringing in their ears at 1-0 down, they conceded again when Smith made it two for the hosts.
He threw on several forwards in a bid to get something from the game and it eventually paid off even if though they couldn’t win it.
Rangers now have 11 draws in the Premiership this season, which isn’t title-winning form.
But despite failing to beat Hibs, Motherwell and now Livi on their travels in recent weeks, the manager says he isn’t overly concerned about their away record.
He said: “At half-time, we spoke about some positioning.
“It was clear to bring the next player around the box (Bojan Miovski).
“We didn’t change too much but some things had to be more clear.
“But yeah, then we conceded again after a set play.
“So that makes it harder to come back. We were always on the front foot.
“We trie and tried. Sometimes with the feedback from the supporters, you feel how they see the game and it was very positive at that stage.
“I cannot compare the situations between away games.
“If you ask me about not keeping clean sheets, maybe.
“But yeah, when you score two times away from home then it should be enough to win the game. I think that’s crucial.
“Today, the story of the game make us not happy. But it shows that we can come back.
“That’s two times in a row now we’ve come back and took something positive.
“But it’s not more than that, it doesn’t make it much better than it is.
“We’ve dropped two points in a game we wanted to win. We have to win here.
“But now, we just have to go forward to the next game. We know what we have to do at home.”