THE three-way chase for the Championship which was widely and keenly anticipated last season failed to materialise as Hearts, despite having just exited administration, quickly pulled away from their rivals.
Yet, the battle for the second tier title, where Hibs moved alongside leaders Rangers on points on Saturday, will be comfortably the most engrossing in Scotland this term.
The Easter Road club and their Ibrox counterparts both have great strengths, capable managers, talented youngsters, sizeable supports and definite weaknesses. It is hard at this stage to predict which of them will emerge triumphant.
Could, though, the contest between Alan Stubbs’s side and Mark Warburton’s team be decided off the field of play not on it? The backing each man receives from his respective board may well be the difference between winning automatic promotion and entering the lottery of the play-offs once again come the end of the 2015/16 campaign.
Warburton has been told he will be able to strengthen his squad with new signings during the January transfer window. On the evidence of Saturday, and a fair few games of late for that matter, he needs to.
The 1-1 draw with Livingston through in West Lothian once again exposed the problems this Rangers side has overcoming opponents who set up against them negatively and look to score on the counter attack.
Against Dumbarton, Falkirk, Queen of the South and St. Mirren they managed, eventually, to wear down packed defences. But it seemed only a matter of time before they came undone. Sure enough, points have been dropped in two of their last three games.
Rangers certainly pushed hard for a winner in the closing stages of the match and Andy Halliday and Kenny Miller were both brilliantly denied by Marc MacCallum in the Livingston goal. However, it was very hard to argue they had done enough to win at the end of the 90 minutes.
Warburton felt his charges had failed to show enough guile or quality in the final third and had been punished for that. That was certainly true. But being able to alter their game plan when the occasion requires it, having the ability to switch to a more direct style of play, would also be advantageous to his team. At the moment, they can be too one dimensional.
He felt the height and physicality of Mark Burchill’s men had caused them problems. Again, he had a point. But who does he currently have at his disposal who can combat that? Who can win high balls into the box? Who can go upfield for set pieces and cause difficulties? There appears to be nobody he can look to.
Attempting to play passing football is highly commendable. Yet there will be times, like on a heavy pitch away from home on a freezing cold afternoon in November against robust adversaries, it will just not cut it.
Barrie McKay, Nathan Oduwa and Gideon Zelalem were all named in the starting line-up at the Toni Macaroni Stadium. The youngsters have the pace and trickery to create an opening. But each of them drifted out of the game. In such circumstances, the experience of Miller and Dean Shiels, who both started on the bench, may have made a difference.
There are other issues. Once again against Livingston the Rangers rearguard conceded a soft goal. Ben Gordon was allowed to advance unchallenged in the centre of the park and try his luck. Myles Hippolyte was then afforded time and space in a dangerous position on the edge of the area and was able to steady himself, pick his spot and curl home a shot. It was not the play of champions.
There is no need for anyone at Rangers to panic. They have still just lost one and drawn one of their 14 games. They have a superior goal difference to Hibs and a game in hand. But it is obvious they are far from being the finished article. Making the right acquisitions ahead of the second half of the season, then, will be important.
Money is tight at Rangers. They are still operating at a loss and have had to secure further loans of £2.5 million to sustain them to the end of the season. But they can’t afford to squander the chance to reach the top flight a second time. They must, then, speculate to accumulate.
Having pushed Hibs away and held Rangers at home, it was an encouraging week for Livingston. Hippolyte is optimistic his side can push on and move up the league. He was not prepared to pick a potential league winner. “Hopefully a lot more results will go our way now,” he said. “With regards to who will win the league, I like both of teams. But they are both at a similar level. I haven’t seen much of a difference.”
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