ALASTAIR JOHNSTON insists Rangers are ‘ahead of the curve’ on the road to recovery despite a second consecutive campaign without silverware.

The Light Blues were beaten in the semi-finals of the Betfred Cup last year just days before boss Pedro Caixinha saw his tumultuous reign come to an end.

And last weekend Graeme Murty’s side crashed to an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Celtic as their dreams of Scottish Cup glory were killed off at the last four stage.

Read more: Rangers pair still in dark over futures as circumstances of bust-up emerge

The Gers will return to Premiership action against Hearts on Sunday but it is the battle to be best of the rest that is their focus in the final weeks of the season as their Old Firm rivals close in on a seventh consecutive league crown.

Boss Murty will be without the services of Lee Wallace and Kenny Miller after they were suspended following a dressing room bust-up.

And the five remaining top flight fixtures look like being the last ones that Murty will have at the helm as Dave King and his board get set to name a new boss in the summer.

Johnston will have a say in that appointment after returning to the Ibrox boardroom last year and the America-based businessman insists Rangers are on the right track.

He said: "We are probably doing a little better than we would have imagined back in the dark days of running out at Brechin in the fourth tier.

Read more: Derek Johnstone: Graeme Murty deserves respect as Rangers boss

"So you have to look back. The fans have been terrific, as I would have expected them to be, to hang in there and hopefully they will be rewarded.

"In terms of looking forward from where we were four or five years ago at the bottom, the progress that has been gradually made, we are probably ahead of the curve in reality if we finish second or third.

"We are making progress. Hopefully the curve will be fast but it is still going to be gradual, it is not going to happen overnight."

After seeing the appointments of Mark Warburton and Caixinha backfire in recent years as several million pounds was spend with little return, Rangers cannot afford to make a wrong move this summer.

Derek McInnes turned down the chance to return to Ibrox in December as Murty was handed the reins until the end of the campaign.

His future has been the focus of much debate and scrutiny in recent weeks and the defeat to Celtic on Sunday was the final straw for many supporters.

But Johnston believes it is right to wait until the final fixtures have been played before Rangers confirm their managerial plans for next term.

Read more: Derek Johnstone: Rangers owe the Ibrox crowd big time against Hearts after Old Firm embarrassment​

He said: "We have had the discipline of saying that we will evaluate the situation at the end of the season and the reason that we chose that is that at any given time during the period of his tenure there has been a lot of support for him and sometimes there has been not so much support.

"We as a board have to take a very objective view and not be kind of swayed by the last result, whether it is positive or negative.

"Certainly the weekend wasn't a good weekend for us. I was there.

"But as I said we have to be disciplined as a board and not be swayed by the emotions at any one game.

"We have to look at the big picture. We owe that to the club, that's what we are in place to do."