STEVEN GERRARD admitted Rangers couldn’t handle the heat of the title battle after falling ten points adrift of Celtic in the Premiership.
The Gers were stunned at Rugby Park as Kilmarnock came from behind to net twice in the closing stages and cancel out Scott Arfield’s opener.
It is the third time in three weeks that Rangers have dropped points after also losing to Hearts and drawing at home to Aberdeen.
And Gerrard reckons the pressure got to some of his players as they collapsed after the break to leave their silverware ambitions hanging by a thread.
He said: “In the second half, we never handled the heat or the pressure. We never played like a team that was trying to fight to remain in a title race, a team that was trying to come away from here with three points.
“The reality is the opposition are in the driving seat. That’s down to two things - their form and us not being good enough since the winter break.
“But I’m responsible for that. I put this group together. I coach them, they are my tactics and decisions. So I’m not going to sit here and try and force any blame in any other direction than myself.
“It’s disappointing, it’s frustrating at the moment. We keep going, we keep fighting and see where we are.
“But on the evidence of the second half tonight, it’s very worrying for me right now.
“On the evidence of tonight, yes [we need a stronger mentality]. On the evidence since the winter break, for sure. It’s tough to find that mentality.
“I had every belief and confidence when I reflected on the first six months of the season that I had enough to put at least a stronger fight up at this stage. But at the moment it’s looking extremely tough.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel