Rangers Suffer Fourth Straight Defeat Against Hibernian
The boos told their own story. On a night that was supposed to belong to James Tavernier, Rangers slipped to a fourth straight defeat, beaten 2-1 by Hibernian at an increasingly restless Ibrox.
A farewell that never was
For days, this had been billed as Tavernier’s last dance in Govan. Eleven years of service, a captain through chaos and change, one final chance to say goodbye on the pitch.
Instead, the defining image came before a ball was kicked: Tavernier, emotional, emerging only for a pre-match presentation from club icon John Greig, then absent from the squad after being told by head coach Danny Röhl he would not start.
Röhl had expected his captain to stay involved, to come off the bench, to share a farewell with the home crowd. Tavernier chose otherwise. The manager later admitted he was “really surprised” the defender withdrew from the squad entirely. On a night already heavy with frustration, that decision hung over everything.
By full-time, it was Röhl, not Tavernier, standing in front of the supporters, trying to explain another defeat and promising a “strong cut” and “new standards” for a team that has simply collapsed post-split.
Hibs strike first, Rangers hit back
The football itself almost felt secondary, yet it underlined just how far Rangers have fallen in recent weeks.
They actually began with intent. Youssef Chermiti rose early on and forced Raphael Sallinger into a sharp save, the Hibernian goalkeeper pushing his header wide. There was urgency, if not conviction.
Then Hibs landed the first blow.
Jordan Obita found space on the left and whipped in a teasing cross. Martin Boyle, unmarked and ruthless, met it with a thumping volley that crashed under Jack Butland from 10 yards. Ibrox, already subdued, sank further into silence.
Rangers did not fold immediately. They carved out chances, plenty of them. Thelo Aasgaard drove at the Hibs back line and saw a powerful effort beaten away by Sallinger. Dujon Sterling lashed over. Chermiti went through one-on-one only to be denied by the goalkeeper’s legs.
Sallinger was outstanding. He palmed away a long-range strike from Connor Barron that seemed destined for the top corner, then dealt with a curling effort from Aasgaard and a low drive from Mikey Moore. One man, for a long spell, kept Rangers out.
It took something special to break him. Aasgaard provided it.
On the stroke of half-time, the Norwegian stood over a free-kick on the edge of the area and whipped a vicious strike into the top corner. Sallinger, for once, had no answer. Ibrox finally had something to roar.
Pressure without punch
Rangers came out after the interval chasing a winner that never arrived.
Barron dragged a shot wide. Chermiti did the same. The opportunities kept coming, the finishing did not. Bojan Miovski, alive to a loose ball in the box, should have buried his chance but leaned back and blazed over. Each miss tightened the tension in the stands.
Just as Rangers seemed to be edging Hibs back, the visitors grew again.
Ante Suto flashed an effort into the side-netting to jolt the home support. Butland then had to rescue his team, pulling off a sharp double save to deny Dane Scarlett and Felix Passlack in quick succession. The warning signs were there. Rangers didn’t heed them.
Scarlett’s late sting
The pressure finally told in the final minute of normal time.
Passlack surged free down the right, unchecked, and drilled a low cross into the six-yard box. Scarlett, on loan from Tottenham, attacked it with more hunger than any defender in blue and bundled the ball over the line.
As the Hibs players celebrated in front of their travelling support, the response inside Ibrox was instant and furious. Boos poured down from the stands, not just for the goal, but for what it symbolised: a team stumbling to the finish line, a season that had once promised a title challenge now ending in disarray.
Hibernian, under David Gray, left with three points and the knowledge that victory over Motherwell at Easter Road on the final day will secure fourth place. Their finish has bite. Rangers’ has none.
Röhl faces the music
When the whistle went, there was no lap of appreciation, no emotional farewell for Tavernier. Instead, Röhl walked towards the angry, disillusioned home support and tried to front it up.
He spoke of standards. Of a “strong cut” to come. Of a club that “cannot accept this in the future anymore” after four straight defeats have stripped the season of meaning.
On Tavernier, he did not hide his disappointment. He said he had planned to bring the captain on, to give him his moment, but stressed that he is the manager and will make the decisions on the pitch. Respect, he insisted, has to run both ways.
The subtext was clear: change is coming, and nobody is bigger than the role they play in it.
Final day, fraught stakes
Rangers now go to Falkirk on the final day with an unthinkable statistic looming over them: the prospect of a fifth consecutive defeat to close out the campaign. For a club of this size, in this city, that would be a brutal indictment of where they stand.
Hibs, by contrast, can turn a turbulent season into a strong finish with one more win in Leith. Beat Motherwell, and fourth place is theirs.
One club looks upward, sensing opportunity. The other must decide how deep the cuts go, and who will be left to lead them into whatever comes next.
