Rangers are preparing for a season-defining match away to Hearts on Monday on the back of a first league defeat since December.
The Motherwell defeat ended a long unbeaten run that helped propel Danny Rohl’s men into a title race that every man and their dog struggled to believe they would get involved in.
However, what it also did was create a problem that if it continues at Tynecastle will become a worrying trend.
That so called trend would be the third consecutive match in which Rangers have conceded first.
The small signs were there against Aberdeen and Dundee United
Rangers cruised to victories against Aberdeen and Dundee United at Ibrox with a total of eight goals scored.
However, alongside that figure was a total of three goals conceded, one against the Dons and two in the meeting with the Tangerines.
Winning is all that matters at Rangers, so even if there are one or two goals conceded, it is the three points that counts.
However, three goals conceded in a couple of games was followed by six in the following two.
It is now a total of nine goals conceded in four matches.
That means that as much as Rangers were praised for their form in front of goal and rightly so, the ability to leak goals at the other end was a light cloud hanging around Ibrox.
The so-called cloud is now considerably darker as conceding the odd goal or two culminated into the defeat to Motherwell.
Hearts match is opportunity to halt growing issues in their tracks
So, not only are Rangers leaking goals like they are going out of fashion but have turned into a team that leaks them early.
If the performance at the beginning of the Motherwell match is replicated at Tynecastle then they will be punished.
Therefore, the Gers must ensure that they are defensively solid and that there are no cracks for Hearts to infiltrate.
This is the worry about Danny Rohl’s men at the moment but Monday provides an opportunity to prevent it from turning into an unacceptable statistic.
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Make no mistake, Rangers’ attacking prowess was papering over the cracks of an easy to exploit defence.
The Motherwell result made that abundantly clear.
A slow start on Monday evening will turn this situation into a full-blown narrative that could define the end of the season.
