No getting out of jail this time around.
No crazy comebacks.
No nothing from Rangers, really, other than a humiliating afternoon in which so many players in this underperforming squad were shown up for what they are and all talk of Barry Ferguson getting the manager’s job long-term surely came to a halt.
Kudos to Hibs, first and foremost.
That’s 16 league games unbeaten now and that’s some achievement given where they were earlier in the campaign.
They took their chances and defended resolutely when they had to. Fair play to them. David Gray’s claims to be named Manager of the Year are getting stronger by the week.
But my goodness, Rangers didn’t ask a lot of questions of his charges. Their attacking play was grim and predictable. Some of their defending beyond the pale. As for goalkeeper Jack Butland on his 100th appearance? Gee-whizz.
He showed all the resistance of a runny blancmange when letting a Dylan Levitt shot go straight through him early on and was left with no chance by those in front of him when seeing Martin Boyle put the ball through his legs for the second midway through the second period.
This was the sixth game in eight in which Rangers went two goals behind. Eventually, that is going to catch up with you. And it did here. Ferguson and his staff getting all shouty and bawly with these guys was only likely to spark a reaction for so long — and it has clearly stopped working.
It’s no slight on Ferguson, by the way. He inherited a shambles from Philippe Clement and he’s doing his best. It’s wild he’s in the dug-out in the first place.
Rangers were bad enough in the first 45 and dreadful in the second. It just became an embarrassment for them. Their punters started streaming out with 20 minutes to play with the Hibs fans in the corner singing ‘Walking Away Is The Rangers Way’.
By the end of the game, played out in front of a largely empty stadium, the only spectators chanting Ferguson’s name were those in green-and-white.
Of course, you never quite know what you’re getting with this Rangers side. If logic played any part in telling their fortunes, you’d be putting the house on Athletic Bilbao taking them apart at home in Thursday night’s Europa League quarter-final first leg in Govan — particularly with John Souttar and Mohamed Diomande suspended. Life is rarely that simple around these parts, though.
Inconsistency is their watchword. Questionable attitudes their stock in trade. They probably will show up on Thursday and make a game of it, but that’s part of the problem with this lot. They can’t be trusted. They’ll never win you a league title over 38 games. And that’s what Rangers need more than anything.
The place needs gutted in summer. Whether Butland survives that cull is open to debate. It’s certainly impossible to see the 32-year-old as a No1 to hang your hat on given the campaign he’s having right now.
Indeed, it is hard to make a case for Ferguson keeping him between the sticks for the visit of Ernesto Valverde’s men during the week. The guy’s confidence looks shot, with even his erratic kickouts attracting all manner of opprobrium from the stands here.
It is the nature of Hibs’ opener that will be troubling Ferguson and his staff most, though. Where do you begin with it? It was yet another rush of blood to the head from Butland, but these foul-ups are happening way too often with this guy to continually be written off as just one of these things.
During last week’s outbreak of all-out mayhem in Rangers’ 4-3 win at Dens Park, he was guilty of spilling a largely innocuous header and eventually conceding a goal to Joe Shaughnessy.
This time round, he just let the ball go straight through him. Even by his recent standards, it was close to unfathomable. It is wholly unacceptable.
A long throw-in from Jack Iredale on the left was headed clear by Souttar to Levitt just outside the area. He took a touch to get the ball under control and released a shot that was struck well, but way too close to the keeper.
In normal circumstances, it would be a straightforward save. These are not normal circumstances for Butland, though.
Anything but.
It was still a shock when the ball shot up from under the keeper’s body to zip into the net, but not that much of a shock. This stuff is becoming an all-too-regular event with him.
So disappointing and dysfunctional were Rangers as an attacking outfit that it took almost half-an-hour for them to carve out a real bona-fide chance — James Tavernier setting up Cyriel Dessers nicely with a first-time pass and the striker
seeing his effort from a tight angle saved by Jordan Smith.
Moments later, Dessers would have a clear sight of goal again. Hamza Igamane sent him clean through with a clever pass, but you’d never hang your hat on him in these situations. Sure enough, with Rocky Bushiri recovering to put him under a bit of pressure, his shot went high and wide.
Just before the break, Dessers was back at it. Vaclav Cerny fed him the ball in plenty of space on the left hand side of the area, but his sliced effort was just a piece of nonsense, really.
So much has been said about Dessers of late. He works hard. He’s a good team-mate. Blah, blah. Here’s all that has to be said. He’s not up to it.
From that point onwards, that was it from Rangers in terms of forcing the play, being dominant. Their second-half performance was atrocious. Hibs were always the better, more dangerous side and got their reward with a second goal on 69 minutes — just moments after home substitute Nedim Bajrami had hit the crossbar with an effort from distance following a counter-attack.
Jordan Obita set it up with a brilliant pass that skimmed across the surface and split the Rangers rearguard wide open. Boyle took full advantage to race through, settle himself and nutmeg Butland.
Assistant referee Ross MacLeod raised his flag for offside, but a lengthy check from VAR Kevin Clancy resulted in referee Don Robertson awarding the goal.
Boyle could have made it 3-0 four minutes later. The home defence was posted missing again as he raced onto a ball up the right, but he couldn’t beat Butland with his effort from a difficult angle.
Not that it mattered. Rangers weren’t coming back from the dead in this one. They’ve been living on the edge in too many games for too long. This was a harsh dose of
reality in a footballing department that, European quarter-final or not, isn’t fit for purpose going forward.