Bojan Miovski: Rangers let title hopes fizzle out too easily against Hearts
Bojan Miovski admitted Rangers let their title hopes fizzle out all too easily in Monday's 2-1 defeat at William Hill Premiership leaders Hearts.
Gers looked set to breathe new life into their championship bid as they bossed the Jambos and led 1-0 at the break.
But they wilted amid the Tynecastle cauldron after the break as they sustained a second-consecutive defeat that leaves them seven points off the pace with just three games to play.
“We believed, of course we believed – everyone in the dressing-room believed we could do it,” said striker Miovski, who was sent on as a late substitute in Gorgie as Danny Rohl desperately tried to salvage their title bid.
“But unfortunately the second half was disappointing. If you fight for the league, you can’t play like we did in the second half.
“We started really good in the first half and should have killed the game in that half.
“We gave them a chance in the second half. We lost concentration and gave them an easy goal, in my opinion.
“We brought them into the game, we shouldn’t do that. I don’t know exactly what went wrong. We need to analyse and improve.”
Rangers are now effectively battling to beat Celtic to second spot and a place in the Champions League qualifiers. Gers are four points behind their city rivals ahead of Sunday’s derby at Celtic Park.
“We will give everything until the end and try to collect as many points as we can,” added Miovski.
“We need to finish this season strongly before thinking of next season.”
Manager Rohl earned praise for hauling Rangers into title contention after taking over in October when they were in the bottom half of the table following a dire start to the campaign under previous boss Russell Martin.
But the German has come under fire from sections of an exasperated support, who sensed their team were on course to pip Hearts and Celtic to the title before back-to-back posts-split losses against Motherwell and the Jambos took the wind out of their sails.
“I have to analyse all the things and take the consequences as well for some of the things on the pitch,” said Rohl.
“We will improve. I’m totally convinced. We showed in a lot of moments which direction we want to go. But there is a lot of space to improve.
“I want to see courage from my group and three big, strong last games from our side.”