- Rangers’ title hopes suffer major blow after home defeat to Motherwell and rivals’ late wins.
- Hearts move top of Premiership, leaving Rangers needing wins in remaining fixtures.
- Hibs supporting former pro Dean Brett calls for his beloved Hibees to throw title tie with Celtic.
Rangers threw away their title advantage on Sunday with a damaging home defeat to Jens Bethal Askou’s Motherwell at Ibrox.
Prior to the match Danny Rohl and his team knew if they won all five of their remaining Premiership fixtures, they would be crowned champions.
However, Emmanuel Longelo’s final minute winner in Govan and Blair Spittal’s late Edinburgh derby winner for Hearts against nine-man Hibernian at Easter Road completely changed the outlook of the run in.
Hearts now top the table, three clear of second-placed Celtic, who defeated Falkirk on Saturday, and four clear of third-placed Rangers.
The week ahead
Now Tynecastle is on the horizon.
Rohl and his Gers’ players know it is ‘win or bust’ in terms of their championship hopes.
That match will take place on Monday afternoon.
Before that, Celtic will travel to the capital themselves to face Hibs at Easter Road.
A Celtic win would return them to the top of the table ahead of the crunch clash a day later.
Hibs fans had previously been preparing to will their team onto a defeat against Rangers in their penultimate match at Ibrox.
Now that gallows humour laded request has moved across the Glasgow divide.
Dean Brett calls for Hibs to throw Celtic clash
With the Gers now firm outsiders for the title, the green side of Edinburgh are now willing the current champions on to topple their rivals.
Starting with a win at Easter Road.
Former professional player and outspoken Hibs supporter Dean Brett made his own call for David Gray’s men to ‘throw’ the game.
“Get a result this weekend and the season ticket sales will plummet,” he jokingly warned on his X account.
“Read the room Hibs.”
Brett once scored against Rangers for Cowdenbeath in a Scottish Cup tie at Ibrox in 2016.
The 33-year-old curled in a free-kick past Wes Foderingham to bring the Blue Brazil back into a cup clash with Mark Warburton’s Gers.
However, the then-Championship leaders scored a further three second-half goals to win 5-1 and progress.
They would make the final that season, losing to Brett’s beloved Hibees at Hampden.
13 months later Brett would be sacked from Cowdenbeath for making bets on football matches.
This would come not long after a ban was handed out to Rangers’ Ian Black for similar offences.
Hibs captain to fight to the end
Hibs captain and long-serving midfielder Joe Newell clamped these claims however.
Speaking ahead of the Celtic clash he said he and his teammates would be giving it their all.
“We’re a group of professional athletes,” explained the skipper.
“We fight with each other over five-a-sides in training.
“So, if you think we’re going to lie down in front of thousands of people, in front of the Sky cameras, you’re wrong.
“We’ll do what we know best, which is to win the game in football. It’s as simple as that.
“Obviously, you see things and you hear things and stuff but the message throughout is obvious.
“Straight away, I can assure you there’s no thinking of that.
“You play for this club, you’re expected to do as well as we can and we’ve got our own targets, our own goals that we haven’t achieved yet and we need to.
“So, in that respect, it’s straightforward.”
Read Rangers analysis
With the title race now hanging by a thread, Rangers head into the final stretch knowing there is no longer any room for recovery.
The defeat to Motherwell has turned opportunity into urgency.
The trip to Tynecastle now stands as a defining moment in the Gers season.
Even with a win against Hearts and a further three points against Celtic at Parkhead a week later, Rohl would still require a favour elsewhere to turn the league back into his own team’s hands.
Whether that will come at the controversial hands of Hearts’ oldest rivals remains to be seen.
For now, only a victory on Monday will keep Rangers’ hopes alive.
Anything less, and the destination of the Premiership may already be decided.
