ALLY McCOIST, the Rangers manager, branded his side's defending as wholly unacceptable following a 3-1 home defeat by Hibernian and admitted he is not surprised that certain bookmakers have now installed Hearts as favourites for the SPFL Championship title.

Two goals from Jason Cummings, either side of a header from David Gray, put the Ibrox side three goals behind at half-time and a 55th-minute effort from Nicky Law was all they could muster during the second half.

McCoist has admitted that his Tunisian centre-back Bilel Mohsni may have reason to regret his pre-match remarks about Hibernian not being genuine title contenders and will look at footage of him squaring up to home supporters at half-time.

The Scottish Football Association may also examine the pictures from the match to investigate claims that Mohsni swung an arm at Liam Fontaine in the wake of Rangers' consolation goal and that Kris Boyd and Jordon Forster clashed heads later in the game.

"The level of goal we lost was as poor as I can recall us conceding," said McCoist last night. "The most disappointing aspect of the game was the goals we lost. Coming in 3-0 down at half-time leaves you needing a minor miracle to get back in the game. The defending and the standard of goal was unacceptable. There is no doubt about that.

"You cannot lose self-belief and belief in the team. We have had recent conversations about the standard of defending and we had some decent performances, but we are back to early on in the season and that is unacceptable.

"It does not surprise me [that Hearts are favourites] and it doesn't bother me, really. I can understand that off the back of a disappointing result for us and a good result for Hearts. Bookies have been wrong before and it is up to us to prove them wrong."

McCoist insisted that he retains "self-belief and belief in his players" but was clearly unhappy at hearing that Mohsni had become involved in an exchange with fans and passed comment on the defender's pre-match remarks. "I think we sometimes have to be very careful in what we say to you boys [journalists], particularly pre-match," he said. "I do not necessarily think we should make it incredibly easy for you.

"Through naivety, he maybe did that a little bit. I didn't see it [the half-time exchange with supporters]. I will certainly be disappointed if that was the case."

Alan Stubbs, the Hibernian manager, refused to say whether he used Mohsni's remarks as a motivational tool, but believes the Rangers defender may have to reflect on his opinion of the Easter Road side.

Asked about Mohnsi claiming that Hibs cannot win the title, Stubbs replied: "Maybe he might do now. I'm not going to say if I used that before the game."

Stubbs had spoken before the game about the need for the referee, Calum Murray, to be strong and believes he should have given Hibs a penalty at the start of the second half when Lee McCulloch handled in the area. "Yes, I thought we should have had a penalty, but I'm not going to get involved in referees," he stated.

"I'm delighted for the players. The lads took their chances and looked a real threat on the counter attack. They were really positive."

Rangers have now lost to Hibs and Hearts at home and lie six points behind the Tynecastle side in the league table. "The league is a marathon, but we have lost at home to the teams which most people would have regarded as our biggest rivals for automatic promotion," said McCoist. "It is something we are going to have to look at."