Danny Rohl believes Rangers’ dramatic victory over Hearts demonstrated that the character of his squad is now beyond all question.
Twice trailing to the league leaders at Ibrox, Rangers bounced back to claim a vital win thanks to Youssef Chermiti’s hat-trick.
Having been 13 points adrift of the Tynecastle men at the point where the German came in, Rohl’s players are now only two points behind them with 11 games to go.
And while he acknowledged that his team are still a work in progress, the head coach feels the manner of the victory underscored the mental strength that exists within the group.
‘You need (to take) the steps by steps,’ he said. ‘But big respect to my group. I think we showed today how big is the personality, how big is the character.
‘Let’s not speak until the end of the season about the mentality of this group, because we have a lot of mentality.
Youssef Chermiti celebrates completing his hat-trick in Rangers’ 4-2 victory against Hearts
Rangers boss Danny Rohl says they showed a strong mentality by coming from behind at Ibrox
Hearts boss Derek McInnes was keen to stress that his team are still top of the Premiership
‘We fully deserved over 90 minutes to win. We gave them two presents today. I cannot really remember that they had a more dangerous situation.
‘We were in the game. We played even before the conceded goal with high intensity.’
Rohl was criticised for leaving out big names including Tuur Rommens, Andreas Skov Olsen and Ryan Naderi as his side drew at Motherwell in midweek.
Evidently feeling his selections had been vindicated across both matches, he added: ‘When you look at a week like this, and you know you have two big games where you need over 90, 95 minutes high intensity, then you have to take the squad like it is, because otherwise you cannot do this 72 hours again and again.
‘That was the reason I made the decision this week. At the end we won, so it’s a big credit to my group. Now it’s about recovery. We enjoy the evening and then we go again.’
Rohl was reluctant to single out Chermiti for praise even though the Portuguese netted the first hat-trick of his career.
‘I think more important is what we do as a group,’ he stressed. ‘I think we’ve developed a lot of resilience since I’m here.
‘We go again and again, even after small setbacks. I try to be the leader of this group, leading by example. I give them a clear picture.
‘Since I’m here… I know at the end we are still in the second position, but since we are here, we are top of the league. We took a lot of points and again it comes from a lot of effort, improvements, development. We stick together.’
Asked if he believed his side was the one with the momentum in the title race, Rohl said: ‘Look, on Wednesday we spoke about our momentum is done, it’s over. Now, two days later, we speak about again the momentum.
‘It’s all about the next match, consistently again and again and again. It’s nice now that we have a title race with three teams, and we are the middle of this race. This feels good.’
Hearts manager Derek McInnes said he didn’t even have to remind his players that they are still very much in the title hunt.
Despite ultimately being disappointed to lose for the fourth time away from home in the Premiership, the Tynecastle head coach revealed that some experienced voices reminded the group that they were still top of the league before he’d a chance to do so.
‘I think one or two of them stole my thunder a wee bit with that in the dressing room already before I spoke,’ he said. ‘And I did say win, lose or draw, nothing’s going to be decided today.
‘It was an opportunity for us to come and get a positive result. We’ve missed that opportunity. But we’re still top of the league. We still need to keep a bit of calmness and recognise what’s good about us.’
McInnes feels confident his side can now get some vital points in the bag with Falkirk, Aberdeen and Dundee due in Gorgie in the coming weeks.
‘I think there will be twists and turns, to be honest,’ he added. ‘I think you only look at how it played out at Rugby Park today. A team fighting to stay in the league can make it still go to the 97th, 98th, whatever minute it was.
‘So, there’s a lot of teams fighting. I think you’ll see a lot of dramatic finishes because there’s so much on it for so many teams, whether it’s teams fighting at the top, teams fighting for Europe and teams fighting for their lives.’