Danny Rohl was left to rue a second-half turnaround as Rangers lost at Hearts, suffering successive defeats. They are now seven points off the Scottish Premiership summit and four points behind second place. Rangers' title challenge has been dismantled in two games after Rohl's side had, in his own words, "worked so hard" to get in the fight.

Eight days on from a 3-2 loss at home to Motherwell that featured a winning goal in added time, Rohl took his players to Tynecastle knowing they realistically had to win or at least draw to preserve their hopes. Forty-five minutes in, those hopes were high. Dujon Sterling's deflected volley had Rangers in front, and their overall performance merited such a lead.

By 90 minutes, Hearts had scored twice without reply and Rangers, save for a late header off the bar by Thelo Aasgaard, never looked like recovering. And therein lies Rangers' Achilles heel this season - the inability to consistently produce over 90 minutes.

"We knew that they would come with power," Rohl told BBC Scotland afterwards. "They played much, much more direct in behind. We had less pressure on the ball and then you have to defend in critical areas very often.

"We have to learn from this, we have a young, potential squad but this is a job in the next weeks and months to improve." The youthfulness and inexperience of Rangers' squad perhaps accounts for some of their inconsistency. Against Motherwell, Rangers were outplayed in the first half and trailed 2-0. They improved markedly in the second half and battled back to level, only for Motherwell to score again.

In the previous game, Rangers also conceded two first-half goals but eventually ran out 6-3 winners at Falkirk. They also had to recover from two down to draw with Livingston, and were 2-0 up on Celtic after an impressive first half, but ultimately drew 2-2. Those Celtic, Motherwell, and Hearts games in particular have undone the progress made previously under Rohl this term. A total of 12 league draws has not helped either.

Rangers had lost just twice in 33 games before the split, and have now lost consecutive games at the most crucial stage of the campaign. Former Rangers forward Kris Boyd gave his assessment on Rangers in the wake of their Tynecastle loss on Sky Sports. "There will be mentality questions asked of Rangers," he said. "Hearts have been top for a number of months. You have to expect that you're going to suffer in the second half and that's mentality. "You have to dig in and get a result, but they didn't. Rangers had to strike and once again they didn't - they have failed."

Ex-Celtic forward Chris Sutton shared similar sentiments: "They have spent a fortune this season, so there will be questions asked. This isn't a one-off, Rangers choking." However, Rohl said: "This is not about mentality. Everyone who plays football knows what happens if the home team makes the equaliser, then the crowd is there. The crowd in the first half was very quiet.

"It's not enough to play 45 minutes on a high level, you have to play 90 minutes on your highest level." The former Sheffield Wednesday boss can only take so much responsibility for Rangers' campaign. When he arrived in October to replace Russell Martin, Rangers were, after a significant summer squad overhaul, 13 points behind Hearts and eight off Celtic.

Improved form up until mid-April had Rangers within a point of Hearts and in front of Celtic, before those recent losses pulled them back to third. Overall, Rohl has a 2.22 points per league game average, which is higher than Derek McInnes at Hearts (2.11) but short of Martin O'Neill's 2.5 for the Premiership fixtures he has had in charge of Celtic this season.

Only a win at Celtic Park on Sunday, combined with a concession of points by Hearts at Motherwell the night before, will give Rangers any hope in the final two games of the season. Defeat on Sunday would consign Rangers to their first third-placed finish since 2018.

When Rangers won 3-1 at Celtic Park in December, it was the last match of Wilfried Nancy's short spell in charge of the hosts. Rohl will need to get the better of O'Neill for the first time to secure a second victory at the home of their city rivals this season.

The German was only a couple of weeks into the job when he took Rangers to Hampden to face interim boss O'Neill's Celtic and, despite a valiant recovery with 10 players after Aasgaard's first-half red card, the Ibrox side lost 3-1 after extra time. By the time of their March Scottish Cup quarter-final with Celtic, O'Neill had been back in charge of Celtic since January.

Rangers pressed and pressed without end product and Celtic won on penalties after 120 goalless minutes at Ibrox. "It's over when it's over and it means it's not over because we have still three games to go," Rohl said. "The last two games bring us in a really difficult situation. We worked so hard to come to this point and then you lose two times, so tight 2-1 and 3-2 and this is not good enough for the moment.

"What I demand from my group now is show personality and courage for the next three games and this is our job to do." With captain James Tavernier having already announced he will leave this summer, six players coming to the end of their loan spells and the likes of goalkeeper Jack Butland about to enter the final year of their contracts, another significant turnover of players beckons.

"We will analyse the season - what was right, what was wrong, what we have to improve and then I'm totally convinced from the summer on, we go again," Rohl, 37, explained. "How we make decisions in moments, this is really a part that we really have to improve." Leaders Hearts topple Rangers to take seismic leap towards title. Captain Tavernier to leave Rangers after 11 years.