Amid the joyous scenes at Hampden on Tuesday night, John Souttar joined in the on-pitch celebrations with his Scotland team-mates, but his withdrawal from the starting line-up moments before kick-off will have caused concern for his new club manager Danny Rohl.
Souttar is not a faultless defender but in a troubled team he has been one of the most reliable performers and Rohl will hope his absence is not an extended one as he seeks to get Rangers back on track.
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They return with three home games – Livingston and Falkirk in the league with Braga visiting in the Europa League in between.
The European campaign is as good as dead and Rohl has to put everything into rescuing a league title tilt, with Celtic still not firing on all cylinders and Hearts’ ability to maintain a wonderful start unknown.
Clearly six points from the two league games against the promoted sides are an absolute must but few supporters will see them as a given, particularly as Rangers needed an injury-time Max Aarons winner to beat Livi earlier in the season while the draw with Falkirk was the final nail in Russell Martin’s coffin.
But there were positive signs just before the international break as Rangers swept Dundee aside at Dens Park and you imagine Rohl will have been using the last couple of weeks on the training ground with those players not involved with their countries to instill his ideas a little more firmly.
The Rangers support will be looking forward to seeing how that translates on to the pitch on Saturday.
[BBC]
