“Rangers have to go there and win, or it’s done.”
In the title race that keeps on giving, Kris Boyd believes his former club will be out of the running in the most incredible Scottish Premiership season if they fail to win their next game – away to leaders Hearts, live on Sky Sports on May 4.
The first post spilt fixtures brought more twists and turns. Celtic beat Falkirk to move into second before Danny Röhl’s side suffered their first home league defeat of the season to Motherwell.
It was then over to the Jambos to maintain their dominance and, against the nine men of Hibs, they claimed a famous Edinburgh derby win to move three points clear of the Old Firm with four games left.
And for Boyd, that means it is crunch time for Rangers again.
“Rangers have to go there [Tynecastle] and win, or it’s done. That might be me saying it’s done for the fourth or fifth time,” he told Sky Sports.
“Celtic will be sitting at home buzzing with that result at Ibrox.
“When you look at Hibs going 1-0 up, they might have been saying ‘this could be ours again’, but Hearts have just found another way to go and keep winning a game of football and ask questions of Glasgow’s big two.”
The Jambos have led the way virtually all season, and Boyd finds it difficult to argue against them staying there.
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Blair Spittal scores late on to make it 2-1 in Hearts’ clash with Hibernian
“They’ve been at the top of the table for a long, long time now.
“There have been people who have questioned Derek McInnes. His mindset, the way he’s gone about it. But if you ask any of those Hearts players who they would have as their manager, it would be Derek McInnes.
“Tony Bloom and the Jamestown analytics have taken a lot of credit and rightly so, but it still needs someone to have full belief and have full control of a dressing room because you can lose it.
“I see a team that’s all together. You need players coming off the bench wanting to have an impact, not only in the match they’re playing but to stake a claim the following week.”
Rangers go to Tynecastle a day after Celtic face Hibernian at Easter Road, also live on Sky Sports.
McInnes: We’re not relying on anyone else
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Hearts boss Derek McInnes discusses ‘unusual’ derby day win over Hibernian and says he’s urged his players to stay focused on their own results in the Scottish Premiership title race
Hearts head coach Derek McInnes on Sky Sports:
“Anybody who says they’re not interested in how the others are doing is telling lies. I would always watch the games. For us, the way the kick-offs were today we had to just focus on Hearts.
“We said that it would be unlikely that one team would win all five games based on how the league has gone this season. I did think if you could get the momentum and get a good start in your first split game, it sets you up for your next game.
“Just because you win this one, it doesn’t make the next one any easier but I think psychologically this does us no harm. But we still need to perform. No one is going to give us it, don’t rely on anyone else. It’s all on us.”
Röhl: ‘It’s not over’
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Rangers head coach Danny Röhl tells Sky Sports News he still believes they can win the Scottish Premiership title despite defeat to Motherwell dropping them to third
Rangers head coach Danny Röhl speaking to Sky Sports News:
“My job is to go forward, lead them, I will lift them.
“We can be disappointed, but we lift them again, I give them the belief.
“It’s not over, this is the part in this split, you have to carry on. It makes no sense to think it’s over.
“If there’s the final whistle at the end of the season, then it’s over.
“My team did well so far and I have no doubts that we can do again, to take four wins, but it’s not easy, we know this, and with this point we go forward.
“We keep believing in what we are doing and we have the chance to turn the next game back to our side.”
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