When Findlay Curtis was withdrawn on the 79 minute mark against Hibs, the Scotland international darted straight up the tunnel.
He didn’t appear injured, and he’s not the type to protest aggressively against the manager’s decision.
It didn’t look like that type of situation anyway.
After the damaging Scottish Premiership defeat against Hibs, Derek McInnes detailed the situation with Findlay Curtis – described by Andy Halliday as “fearless”.
McInnes reveals Findlay Curtis situation
In the post-match press conference, the Rangers boss explained what happened during his analysis of the game and what he felt was a much better second-half performance from his team.
“We played a bit safer than I would have hoped in the first half.
“The spare area, the spare man inside the pitch a lot of times was Vanja and obviously he’d been booked.
“And we tried Findlay on that side, just to double up with Daisuke on that right-handed side. You have to say it didn’t work totally.
“And then Findlay had a stomach bug and has to come off. He was feeling that, he was saying he felt sick.
But trying Findlay there, we were trying to be positive with that change, but you have to say it didn’t quite work.
“I thought the last 25 minutes of the game, half hour of the game, it was far more how I wanted Rangers to play in terms of we engaged more strikers quicker, we had more balls in the box, we looked as if the equaliser was coming.
“It took a bit longer than I would have hoped because we passed up chance after chance. But we started to, I mean 76% possession, we started to actually utilise that possession and we were a wee bit more of a threat. We had plenty of box action.
“The only stat that really matters, as you know, is the scoreline. I actually thought the intent of the team was good. I’ve got to praise the players for their efforts to keep going.”
Strange role for Findlay Curtis
When the teams lined out for the second half, the sight of Findlay Curtis in the right back role was a strange one.
Especially with Dujon Sterling and Ross McCrorie sitting on the bench.
The former was being rested for Thursday, while the latter eventually replaced his fellow Scot.
Curtis allowed Rangers to build attacks from the right but he clearly wasn’t comfortable there, and it was a big vulnerability for Hibs to exploit.
Looking at the bigger picture, Rangers have a growing issue at right back with neither main candidate properly filling the role due to form or fitness.
That is one of many issues for Derek McInnes to consider at present.
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