THE lack of ruthlessness that Steven Gerrard had bemoaned following an unnecessarily narrow 1-0 win over Hamilton at Ibrox on Sunday resurfaced last night and ended up costing Rangers both an important victory and the lead in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Gerrard’s side once again did more than enough to win the game comfortably, but a failure to convert their chances, with their leading scorer Alfredo Morelos being the chief culprit, resulted in them being held to a draw and dropping two vital points.

Adam Bogdan, the Hungarian keeper who is on loan at Hibernian from Liverpool, certainly performed brilliantly after replacing Ofir Marciano early on. He denied Morelos with two outstanding saves in quick succession during the first-half and was equal to anything the away team threw at him thereafter.

Still, Gerrard is growing increasingly exasperated by his charges’ failings in the final third. The fact that the Govan club surrendered first place in the top flight table for the second time this month, on this occasion to their city rivals Celtic, as a consequence of their poor finishing in Leith will have infuriated him further.

When James Tavernier, the Rangers captain, fresh aired a Daniel Candieas cut back directly in front of the Hibs goal in the 75th minute it kind of summed up their night.

The fact that Morelos has played just once in the past fortnight, in the Europa League game against Rapid Vienna in Austria last Thursday night, will have contributed to his off night. But if he fails to shake of the rust and find his form in the coming games, not least in the second Glasgow derby of the season on Saturday week, his side will suffer more results like this one.

Neil Lennon fielded the same Hibs line-up that had taken to the field against Celtic at Easter Road three days earlier after Vkintas Slivka, the Lithuanian midfielder who had scored the opening goal in their win at the weekend, recovered from the foot injury he had sustained after being fouled by Scott Brown.

Gerrard, meanwhile, replaced Kyle Lafferty with Morelos, who had completed the two match suspension he had picked up after getting sent off against Aberdeen at the start of the month, and brought in Lassana Coulibaly for Ross McCrorie in midfield.

Both teams have shown on occasion this season that they are capable of playing attractive attacking football. But the early exchanges last night were littered by careless errors. Stevie Mallan and Daryl Horgan for Hibs and Tavernier for Rangers all had misplaced passes intercepted in the middle of the park.

Hibs keeper Marciano failed to get up after plucking a Daniel Candeias cross from wide on the right out of the air shortly after his save. He hobbled off in the 15th minute with an injured ankle and Bodgan came on. His replacement was soon called in to action.

Morelos, clearly growing frustrated at the lack to service he was receiving, dropped back into his own half, won the ball and initiated an attack. He fed Candeias who sent Coulibaly racing through on goal. The subsequent shot, though, lacked power and was struck straight at Bogdan

These two teams had drawn 5-5 on their previous encounter in their final game of last season, albeit in rather different circumstances and, in the case of the visitors, with a different man in the dugout. There was no chance of such a scoreline in this cagey affair.

All of a sudden, however, the game sprang to life due to come sloppy defending from Hibs. The home team, Efe Ambrose in particular, had Bogdan, who produced two fine blocks from Morelos in the space of three minutes, to thank for keeping them level.

The visitors, though, were clearly buoyed by the chances. They upped the tempo and should really had taken the lead. Gareth McAuley shot wide from a few yards out after getting on the end of a Borna Barisic corner and Scott Arfield had a header nodded off the goal line by Mallan.

Hibs hit back on the counter attack in the 33rd minute. But Horgan opted to shoot when he got to the edge of the Rangers area when he had Kamberi in space to his right and his weak effort failed to trouble Allan McGregor or his goal.

The Hibs team that had swatted the Scottish champions aside on Sunday to win their second consecutive match in the league was nowhere to be seen in the opening 45 minutes. The side which had gone seven games without winning before that, however, was very much in evidence. It is little wonder Lennon gets so frustrated with his men. He will doubtless have had a few choice words to say to them at half-time.

Both he and his opposite number Gerrard made changes at the beginning of the second-half. Mark Milligan took over from Horgan for Hibs while McCrorie came on for Arfield. Both teams had chances to take the lead. James Tavernier got upfield and tested Bogdan twice while Oli Shaw should have buried at least one of the two opportunities that fell to him.

The Hibs forward was hooked and Martin Boyle given the chance to show that he could do better shortly after and Joe Worral was sent on to face him as McAuley was removed from the field. Glenn Middleton then came on for the ineffectual Grezda late on. But the winger was unable to make an impact.

Rangers had a strong claim for a penalty waved away by referee Craig Thomson when Milligan handled a Morelos shot inside his own penalty box with eight minutes remaining. The midfielder clearly moved his arm towards the ball. But it was that kind of evening for them.