I watched Hibs beat Rangers and reckon two transfers are needed, some slack required and a hot VAR debate

A stoppage-time strike from Callum Wright earned the visitors all three points, who had taken an early lead through a Josh Campbell penalty, only to be pulled back by a Miguel Chaiwa own goal.

Mark Atkinson was at Ibrox for The Scotsman to cover proceedings and picks out three key takeaways:

A miserable start for McInnes

Hibs deserve oodles of credit and we’ll get to that, don’t you worry. But Rangers is just as big a talking point given their new manager Derek McInnes is still waiting for his first competitive win as Ibrox boss.

McInnes was largely welcomed into the job by supporters and seen as the right man to revive the club’s ailing fortunes. It is also his dream posting as a Rangers fan, a former player and someone who at the age of 54 is operating at the peak of his powers.

Unfortunately, this is not a good start to the season by Rangers under his watch. Domestically, they have drawn 1-1 at Dundee United and lost to Hibs, while in the Europa League qualifiers, they need to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Jagellonia Bialystock on Thursday.

Rangers already trail Premiership leaders and defending champions Celtic by five points. No trophies are handed out in August, but they are already playing catch-up in the title race. At this point last season under Russell Martin, they were four points behind. It is therefore entirely understandable that frustration poured from the Ibrox stands during Sunday’s defeat.

Post-match, McInnes accepted that time and patience don’t come with the job at Ibrox. Unpanicked and measured, the former Hearts boss also remained steadfast that he will get it right. He called for more new recruits, to add to the nine who have already come through the entrance door. There are players to shift, too. Mohamed Diomande could be on his way to Turkey to join Corum FK. The squad is bloated and fat needs trimmed.

August will be a busy month. This is a real summer of upheaval - just like the last one. But as Martin discovered, you also have to find a way to win matches while turning this tanker around.

For the third game in a row, McInnes made at least one substitution at half time. He is yet to fall upon his best XI. There is still a glaring lack of creativity in the centre of the pitch, and up front the goals are yet to flow for new captain Lawrence Shankland. As for the other strikers, Ryan Naderi doesn’t look the part right now and Youssef Chermiti, who was subject of a megabucks bid from Galatasarary during the weekend, could be out for some weeks after getting injured against Hibs. Bojan Miovski wasn’t even in the squad.

Rangers’ biggest threat came from Japanese winger Diasuke Yokota, who looked handy. McInnes needs more like him. At Rangers, you want threats from all angles. They want another winger and are pushing for PSV’s Couhaib Driouech. A creative midfielder and No 9 should also be on the shopping list.

We make parallels to the Martin era; that is probably a little unfair. Rangers are better than a year ago. McInnes, for starters, has the players onside. But the need for a win, to get his tenure up and running, is as pressing as it has ever been for the manager. The visit of Jagiellonia on Thursday requires urgent attention.

Hibs’ history boys

There is a great clip on The Scotsman’s social media channels of the Hibs fans celebrating in away end. Limbs everywhere. For the third season in a row, Hibs have won at Ibrox. That has never been achieved before. Records continue to tumble under head coach David Gray.

The slight irony is that Gray’s dissenters have become louder in recent months. There have been grumbles about style of play, and debate on whether Hibs are progressing or stagnating under the 39-year-old, who is into his third season in charge.

Some of those questions are justifiable, but Gray should be afforded credit for what he has done over the past fortnight. He managed to turn around an embarrassing first-leg European defeat by Malisheva of Kosovo, eke out a win over Shkendija last week and then mastermind another storming of Ibrox. Whenever he is put under scrutiny, Gray often delivers.

One of the criticisms of Gray has been his loyalty to a 3-4-1-2 formation. He has changed that up, deploying a 4-2-3-1 and then a 4-1-4-1 in recent weeks. It has worked. Hibs’ back four was exceptional against Rangers. The big calls paid off. He reshuffled his whole front line given the raft of fixtures coming up, leaving his first-choice attackers out of the starting XI. Josh Campbell, Ante Suto and Thibault Klidje fared well and when the time for subs came, they were spot-on. Callum Wright got the winner but then men who set him up were fellow replacements Felix Passlack and Nathan Lowe.

A nod should also be given to the selection of young right-back Kanayo Megwa, who fared very well and made a goal-saving block from Youssef Chermiti in the first half.

Statistically, Hibs haven’t had it this good for a long time. Under Gray they have finished third, then fifth, qualifying for Europe twice in a row. He has won at Tynecastle, Celtic Park and Ibrox. It is easy to forget he is still pretty young himself. And what is also pleasing is that he has changed things up in moments of adversity.

At the start of the season, his three most creative players - Wright, Jamie McGrath and Nicky Cadden - were injured. Two of them are now back, while Cadden isn’t far away. Hibs could do with another skilful outlet but they should kick on with that trio.

This big result for Hibs and Gray ought to act as a platform to kick on. Progressing past Shkendija in North Macedonia on Thursday night and then Partick Thistle in the Premier Sports Cup on Sunday would make it a week to remember.

The penalty decision

Week two of the season and already VAR has reared its head with penalty awards.

Over at Tynecastle, the decision to give Hearts a spot-kick when Daniel Bennie wrestled Jamie McCart to the ground seems like a good piece of work from the men at Clydesdale House. You’d be hard pressed to defend Bennie’s actions. The incident between Rangers’ Vanja Dragojevic and Hibs’ Jason Kerr that led to the visitors earning an early award is more debatable.

Naturally, Derek McInnes thought it was soft; David Gray believed the referees got it bang on. Both Dragojevic and Kerr had hands on each other but what probably went against the Serbian was that he was looking straight at the Hibs defender rather than the ball. He made no attempt to challenge for it.

Gray claimed that the guidance at the start of the season from the referees was clear, that if you engage in such tomfoolery in the penalty box, you run the risk of being pinged. Dragojevic gave the officials a decision to make.

Nevertheless, the bar has been set fairly low now for a VAR intervention. Managers will expect all of these incidents to be penalised over the coming months. Head of referees Willie Collum will be pleased this one was spotted - the key is making sure that if this is the threshold for a penalty, they continue to be given.