For a moment it looked like Marius Zaliukas might erupt during post-match interrogation but, just as his opportunity to claim all three points had a little while earlier, it passed.

The question had seemed deliberately, albeit deservedly provocative, given the level of expectation on the day his club hoped to celebrate the start of its new era when he and his team-mates were facing opponents who had been humiliated when conceding 10 unanswered goals a week earlier.

Was this Rangers turn to feel embarrassment, then?

"So what..." the big Lithuanian replied stonily.

"Why should we be embarrassed? Because they lost 10 nil? Obviously, it's a different story to play at Tynecastle in a proper stadium than to play over here. What do you want to ask me now?"

When pressed, however, he instantly became more conciliatory.

"Conditions played a big part today and we tried our best. It's a shame," Zaliukas said calmly.

For all the maturity shown there was an element within that response that seemed to reflect acceptance of how things have become for Rangers.

Of course it was never going to be easy against opponents who were so determined to redeem themselves after what had happened against Hearts while those overhead and underfoot conditions were truly challenging.

However what was striking was the apparent lack of desperation that, aligned with the superior quality of every individual in the visiting side over his opposite number, surely would have been more than enough to carry them to victory regardless of all of that.

Instead, rather than welcome their new owners in style, they were left to seek consolation from preventing their opponents from scoring for only the second time in nine matches since Christmas.

"We could have played better," Zaliukas acknowledged.

"It's a positive that we finally had a clean sheet and it's a shame we didn't score."

The greatest shame of all was that they so rarely looked like doing so. A Lee McCulloch header which struck the bar at the very end of their wind-assisted first half and that late chance of his own when, Zaliukas explained, he saw the ball come to him late before putting his free header well wide, were the closest they came.

Much more will be expected over the next week or so as they return to Ibrox for a series of matches that will set the tone for the rest of their league campaign.

Such is the gulf in quality, man for man, between the top three and the rest in the Championship that regardless of the old adage about points on the board, Hibs' four point advantage over Rangers in the pursuit of the runners-up spot that will reduce the work-load come play-off time, looked a flimsy one before Saturday taking into account Rangers three games in hand.

It looks less so now and Rangers must now beat Queen of the South tomorrow, Livingston on Saturday and Alloa in eight days time, ahead of their visit to Easter Road on March 22.

Win all three and they will head to Edinburgh knowing that if they avoid defeat to Hibs for the first time in four meetings this season, they will still have that part of their play-off destiny in their own hands. Any slip up, though, could well mean their rivals hold all the cards.

All of which is to recognise, of course, that the other Edinburgh side is, as has long been the case, way out of reach at the top of a division that Rangers were expected to win and, cruel as it may seem to point it out given the generosity of his intent, Zaliukas's comments on his former club's situation also went some way to point out just how badly his current one has got things wrong.

"Maybe a little bit," he said when asked if he had been surprised by Hearts' domination of the league.

"They are working hard for that though and it is good to see."

Yet, having left Tynecastle less than two years ago when it became evident that he was among those whose services could no longer be afforded, the 31-year-old admitted he has little personal connection with the league's dominant force.

"When I came to work here all of them were kind of young just coming into the first team and it is good to see that they have matured and are playing really good football," Zaliukas observed.

It may reflect the different expectations of the two clubs that one could commit to youth development while the other felt forced to sign up all those thirty-somethings to guarantee their progress through the leagues.

By way of example that process of slicing down the wage bill while reinvigorating the club with youthful energy will surely look ever more attractive to the new Ibrox board however if the relative veterans cannot get fired up for what remains of their bid to return to the Premiership at the first time of asking.