Danny Rohl delivers emphatic Rangers response to title question and says Celtic and Hearts will have twists

Rangers looked on course for victory against the Steelmen after Nicolas Raskin’s sixth-minute opener. Their cause was further aided when Motherwell’s Lukas Fadinger was sent off on 77 minutes. However, the hosts pushed for a leveller despite their numerical inferiority and got it when Celtic loanee Stephen Welsh volleyed in on 89 minutes.

With 12 games left in the league, Rangers remain second and are now five points behind leaders Hearts and one clear of champions Celtic, who have a game in hand on them. Rangers welcome the Jam Tarts to Ibrox on Sunday in what will be a seismic clash.

“It's not nice,” said Rohl of the draw. “The good thing is we have the next opportunity. When you come from so many points behind, there's no time for a rest, you have to be at front foot again and again and again and you have to win games. But as I said as well, today is not the title race over.

“It's a bit of a blow because we dropped the two points very late. But on Sunday we have the next opportunity. It's not an easy one, but it's still a chance for us and we will see.”

Asked if Rangers have to beat Hearts, Rohl replied: “I'm honest, since I'm here, every game is a must-win game. I must say, there was not one game where I could say, yeah, this is not a must-win. I spoke with my coaches and we speak a lot about this, and nearly everyone is ‘we need this win today, we need the next win, we need the next win’.

“When you come from behind, that's a big task, but we did until now well. And now, yeah, we dropped two points, but on Sunday it's the next job to do, and if we want, we have to, we have to again, and hopefully we create a good atmosphere, we bring fresh players on the pitch as well, and then we go again.

“I think our fans expect and demand always a win, this is what we demand. I think we saw today our opponent, there's a reason why they didn't concede a goal since October, here you saw it, they were well-organised. We tried our best in this moment, and until this final minute we were close to getting two points, but it's football, you know? Sometimes you come to a point where you concede a late goal, sometimes you have to score, and you can't score.

“We have to move forward, for me it's not about the world going under, I said it after the Hibs game. We drop these two games away some points, that's not nice, but I expect really in this race that it goes a little bit up and down for all the three teams. We have to do Sunday a good game, take the right result, and then I think there will be again a different atmosphere. Today we should be disappointed, which is OK, but from tomorrow on we go home.”