Rangers boss Danny Rohl refused to concede the league title after his team slipped four points behind leaders Hearts following a disastrous 3-2 defeat against Motherwell at Ibrox.
Rohl's side trailed 2-0 at half-time and, despite a spirited second-half fightback that saw them level at 2-2, conceded a last-minute winner to Emmanuel Longelo. Meanwhile, Hearts came from behind to win 2-1 away at rivals Hibs, moving four points clear of Rangers in what could prove a pivotal weekend.
Now sitting in third place, Rangers face a must-win fixture against Hearts at Tynecastle next Monday. But Rohl urged supporters to keep the faith, insisting the title race is far from over.
'I'm disappointed, there's no question over that,' said the Rangers boss. 'Let's talk about the second half where we had a lot of opportunities to turn it again. We could have won this game 4-2 or 5-2, even if the first half wasn't what we wanted. We changed something and it had a great impact.'
'Look, this is football — that's why sometimes we love the sport and sometimes we hate it. But the most important thing is that it's not over. It's really not over. I saw the picture from our fans at Falkirk, the flag saying: "Keep Believing". This is the right time to lift this slogan with emotion. Really, we will keep believing. Otherwise, it's difficult.'
'We have four more finals, four games to go and it's our job. Next week, we have a final-final — there's no question. But even after that game, we'll have three more to go. When the final whistle (for the season) is over, we'll know where we are. Today feels like a big blow and I'll take it. But my responsibility is now to lift and to lead — not just my group and my staff but also us as a club.'
'My group never give up, since I'm here. We got some small setbacks, and we come again with a reaction. This is my experience with this group, and we will do this next week again.'
Rangers started the match in appalling fashion, falling two goals behind to a Motherwell team who were outstanding on the day. The visitors led 2-0 thanks to strikes from Lukas Fadinger and Emmanuel Longelo, and Rangers were fortunate to be only two behind at half-time. They almost rescued a point after clawing it back to 2-2, only for Longelo to net his second goal of the game in the final minute, securing Motherwell's win.
Pressed on why his team had started so poorly, especially after a training camp in Spain last week, Rohl said: 'This is a good question. In this case, you want to tell me now the first 45 minutes is an outcome from the training camp? OK, I will not make a comment on this, sorry. I can tell you the reason why, but this is a part of my job to do with the group, not with you, sorry.'
Rohl was also irked that referee Kevin Clancy did not award a penalty in the first half when Djeidi Gassama was fouled near the edge of the box. Feeling the contact continued inside the box, Rohl said: 'I just say, the foul on Gassama is for me clearly on the line. His foot is inside (the box) but they [the VAR] didn't look. Maybe I'm wrong but please look back and you'll see I'm right with this. But I don't want to make excuses, we still had enough chances to turn it. We had so many opportunities alone in front of the goalkeeper. This is what I take from this game. We can turn things still in the right direction. We can make adjustments with impact players. All of those things give me more than belief that we can do it.'
Meanwhile, Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou was full of praise for his players after an outstanding performance. But he insisted they should rise above any notion of being kingmakers in the title race. 'I am so proud of the players, especially for the performance in the first half and the way we started the match,' he said. 'I also thought all our goals were really good. In that aspect I think it was a really entertaining match to watch with a lot of intensity, a lot of speed, a lot of tempo. To deal with the emotional state of that game where both teams have so much at stake at this moment was immense for us and I'm really proud of that mental performance that we delivered.'
'I am a little bit sick and tired of hearing us being "kingmakers". We want to decide our own fate. We don't care at all who you crown as kings of the season. This club is overperforming in many ways but I also know what we are capable of. We are right there, maybe a little bit below, and we just want to decide our fate.'
