Rangers 1 Kilmarnock 1: Could this be the night the wheels finally came off the Pedro Caixinha bandwagon?

He was powerless to do much about any of it as he served out his one-match suspension for squaring up to Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson from the directors’ box, but that didn’t stop some of his neighbours in the stands hurling abuse in his direction when former Rangers winger Chris Burke came off the bench to provide the late equaliser to Jason Holt’s first half strike which sees them drop to fourth in the table.

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What made it even more incredible was the self-inflicted nature of it all. Because, as the 90th minute approached, referee Alan Muir had just awarded the home side a penalty to make the game safe. Kirk Broadfoot had brought down Eduardo Herrera on the edge of the box – Killie felt the ball hadn’t been allowed to leave the area – but then all hell broke loose. Ryan Jack was red carded for a head butt on Broadfoot – on the advice of the fourth official after referee Muir had strangely given both men a yellow – then Jamie MacDonald dived to his right to save a weak Candeias effort from the spot. Within seconds, play was down the other side of the field, Burke sweeping in a low Stephen O’Donnell cross to leave their fans delirious and everyone else at their wits’ end. Who knows what the board’s judgement will be in the next few days, of a record which stands at 14 wins, five draws and sevendefeats since taking over in March, but there weren’t too many sticking up for him after the final whistle here last night.

The human debris of Sunday’s attritional Hampden showdown with the Lanarkshire side was scattered all over the place. One of Caixinha’s countrymen Fabio Cardoso was limited to a watching brief thanks to the broken nose which Ryan Bowman left him with. At least Bruno Alves was around to play a part, courtesy of the club’s decision to contest the two-match ban which he was offered for kicking out at Louis Moult. By the time this match was just 21 minutes old, a crude lunge by Jordan Jones had cost the club the services of Graham Dorrans too, meaning that only one of the five ‘captains’ identified by Caixinha in early season – Alves, Dorrans, Kenny Miller, Lee Wallace and Niko Kranjcar – was actually on the field to do anything about this.

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Having shouldered responsibility for the defeat on Sunday evening, by Monday afternoon that blame was apparently being pushed in the direction of players who had “embarrassed” him, the club and the fans. Volte face or not, the manger stayed true to his intention to offer as many of these same players an immediate chance to atone. All three of his changes were enforced. Save for one last barb in the match programme, about “how this is football, not wrestling”, Cardoso was inactive, with young Ross McCrorie deputising, goalkeeper Wes Foderingham replacing the injured Jak Alnwick, and a knee problem picked up by Carlos Pena allowing Jason Holt to be accommodated in midfield. Steve Clarke’s stuck with an identical starting eleven for his first Kilmarnock team, which meant starts for Kris Boyd and Kirk Broadfoot, the match beginning after a tribute – 25’ years from his death – to former Rangers and Kilmarnock manager Willie Waddell.

In front of a creditable crowd of 47,981, Declan John was to the fore as Rangers looked to make a positive start, but before long Adam Frizzell was feeding his fellow youth academy product Greg Taylor, for a low right foot shot which was too close to Foderingham.

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A close range Josh Windass effort which produced a smart stop from MacDonald was the closest Rangers had come before the goal on the stroke of half time. Substitute Herrera redirected Tavernier’s low cross into the path of Morelos, who fed Holt for the kind of high finish he used to come up with quite regularly.

Herrera might have had his third goal in Rangers colours shortly after the break when he got on the end of a John cross but Burke's arrival co-incided with a purple park for the Rugby Park side, Foderingham being called into action to defy low shots from Boyd then McKenzie. Jordan Jones fired wide, Stephen O’Donnell saw a shot blocked, then McKenzie’s header at Foderingham was too close for comfort. When referee Muir pointed to the spot it seemed as though that was that. In fact, we still had enough time for enough drama for two whole matches. It was a setback from which the Rangers manager may never recover.