Major Rangers issue sets off transfer alarm bells as the reason club are 'so far off' Celtic revealed

Liam Kelly admits Rangers collective inability to take maximum points from such a strong position against Hibs at Easter Road proves why they are so far behind Scottish Premiership leads Celtic in the title race this season.

The Ibrox stopper - making back-to-back starts for the first time since returning to the club in the summer in place of the injured Jack Butland - was left furious after the Light Blues failed to leave the capital with a victory following the 3-3 draw in Leith due to a number of “sloppy” defensive moments.

Hamza Igamane notched a superb hat-trick as Philippe Clement’s side led 2-0 then 3-2 before allowing the Hibees back into the contest, resulting in Rocky Bushiri’s headed equaliser in the closing stages after Martin Boyle had scored a brace.

With Celtic easing past St Mirren 3-0 later in the day, it leaves Rangers 13 points adrift of Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops at the top of the table, despite the high of last Thursday’s Old Firm win at Ibrox, as they were brought back down to earth with a bump.

And Kelly couldn’t hide his anger after delivering his post-match verdict, admitting: “Yes, I was really annoyed that we didn’t come away with a victory after scoring three goals. Obviously, when you play for this club, if you score three goals, that’s been more than enough to win the game. So I was really annoyed at the defensive moments we gave away. It was sloppy moments. We should never have conceded three goals.

“We just gave away a terrible (first) goal, an awful goal, all of us collectively. A really poor goal and it gives them life in the game, which they never, ever had. It was out of nothing as well, really, a set-piece, obviously. We don’t defend it as a team and we gave them hope when we were so, so good in the early stages of the game. So, it’s really frustrating.”

Rangers have now won just three of their past 11 games on the road in the league this term and they ended the day with another injury concern when Dujon Sterling limped off in the second half. It left Clement with no other option but to throw on centre-back Leon King for his first minutes of the campaign in the absence of crocked trio John Souttar, Leon Balogun and Neraysho Kasanwirjo.

Despite showing glimpses of positive attacking play, with Igamane at the forefront, ex-Motherwell captain Kelly reckons that all counts for nothing if they can’t see out games from winning positions.

“I thought we played well a lot, but we didn’t defend well in moments,” he added. “There was loads of good stuff, but nobody cares when you don’t win a game. I’m not even going to sit here and try to waste anybody’s time by talking about the good stuff, because nobody cares if you don’t get over the line and get a victory. We need to look at the stuff we didn’t do well and try to cut that out.

“All of us, we started turning the ball over too much. Under pressure, we never kept the ball enough. After half an hour, everyone saw there were some amazing moments for us in the game, but when you turn the ball over and you give Hibs momentum, you allow them to get the crowd up. It’s sloppy, it’s slack from all of us.

“Obviously Thursday was amazing, an ultimate high, but that’s why we’re so far off at the moment because in these defensive moments, we’ve not been strong enough. It’s something we’re aware of, it’s something we’re trying to get better at, but again (today), not enough.”