Rangers Suffer Fourth Straight Defeat Against Hibernian

The boos said everything.

Rangers slipped to a fourth straight defeat, beaten 2-1 by Hibernian on a fraught, uneasy night at Ibrox that was supposed to belong to James Tavernier and instead turned into a public reckoning for Danny Röhl and his players.

A farewell that never quite was

All day, the talk had been of Tavernier. Eleven years of service, more than 450 appearances, a captain through triumph and turmoil. This was meant to be his goodbye under the lights, one last run down that right flank in front of a support that has lived every high and low with him.

Then the teams were announced.

Tavernier was out of the starting XI. Not injured. Not suspended. Dropped.

Word spread quickly that, having been told he would not start, the captain had withdrawn from the squad entirely. Many inside the stadium believed he would stay away altogether.

He did not. Just before kick-off, Tavernier emerged to a warm, emotional ovation, receiving a presentation from club icon John Greig to mark more than a decade in royal blue. It should have been the emotional centrepiece of the night.

Instead, it became a sideshow to another damaging defeat and a manager openly questioning his captain’s choice to step back.

Rangers waste chances, Hibs strike first

The football, when it began, felt almost secondary. An already thinned-out Ibrox crowd watched a Rangers side trying to restore a little pride after three post-split losses had torpedoed their title challenge.

They started with intent. Youssef Chermiti rose well and forced Raphael Sallinger into an early save, the Hibs goalkeeper pushing his header wide. There was energy, some urgency, a hint that the hosts might at least make a statement.

Hibernian punctured that mood in a flash.

Jordan Obita found space on the left and whipped in a cross that Rangers never dealt with. It dropped to Martin Boyle, unmarked and ruthless, who thrashed a low volley under Jack Butland from around 10 yards. One chance, one goal, and Ibrox fell quiet again.

Rangers did not fold. They drove forward, but Sallinger turned the evening into his personal stage. The Hibs keeper denied Thelo Aasgaard with a sharp stop, watched Dujon Sterling blaze over, then stood up brilliantly to block Chermiti when the striker looked certain to score.

Connor Barron stepped in from distance and let fly from 25 yards, his shot arrowing towards the top corner. Sallinger stretched, tipped, and frustrated them again. Mikey Moore’s effort was held. Aasgaard curled just wide from inside the box.

Rangers were on top. They just had no reward.

Aasgaard’s moment of quality

It took a set piece, and a moment of real class, to finally beat the Hibs goalkeeper.

On the cusp of half-time, Aasgaard stood over a free-kick on the edge of the area. This time there was no heroics from Sallinger. The Norwegian bent a vicious strike into the top corner, the ball whipping over the wall and ripping past the keeper before he could move.

Level at the break, the home crowd roared again. For a few minutes, belief flickered.

Missed chances, late punishment

Rangers tried to ride that wave after the restart. Barron drilled wide. Chermiti dragged another effort past the post. Bojan Miovski, alive to a loose ball in the box, snatched at a huge chance and lashed over when composure was needed.

Those moments would haunt them.

Hibs grew back into the contest. Ante Suto hit the side-netting to serve a warning. Butland then had to rescue his team with a sharp double save, first from Dane Scarlett and then from Felix Passlack, as green shirts began to swarm forward.

The pressure finally broke Rangers.

With the clock ticking into the final minute of normal time, Passlack surged clear down the right. His low ball into the six-yard box caused panic. Scarlett, on loan from Tottenham, bundled it over the line from close range.

The away end exploded. Around the rest of Ibrox, the response was fury.

Boos rained down at full-time, not for the first time in recent weeks, but this felt different. Louder. Sharper. A verdict on a run that has seen Rangers go from title contenders to a team desperately trying to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat on the final day.

Röhl faces the music – and Tavernier storm

Instead of a farewell ovation for their captain, the night ended with Röhl walking towards the stands, speaking directly to angry supporters, trying to explain another collapse and promise a reset.

The manager did not hide from the scale of the problem. He spoke of a “strong cut”, of new standards on and off the pitch, of a club that “cannot accept this” as an end to a season.

Then came the Tavernier question.

Röhl revealed he had planned to give his captain minutes from the bench, not a starting role, but still a chance to say goodbye on the pitch. Tavernier, he said, chose to withdraw from the squad once he learned he would not start.

“I was really surprised that he stayed away today,” Röhl admitted. He stressed respect, hierarchy, his responsibility as manager to make decisions. The subtext was clear: no player, not even an 11-year servant, sits above that.

Tavernier did appear for the pre-match presentation. He did not feature in the game. He did not get the send-off many expected. What happens next, Röhl left hanging: “Let’s see what the next hours bring.”

Different stakes on the final day

For Rangers, the final stop of this bruising campaign comes at Falkirk. The objective is stark: avoid a fifth straight defeat and try to draw a line under a dismal end to the season before the promised overhaul begins.

Hibernian’s outlook is very different. David Gray’s side head into their last match against Motherwell at Easter Road knowing that victory will seal fourth place. On this evidence, they will fancy it.

Rangers, meanwhile, walk into the summer with their captain’s future, their standards, and their direction all under the harshest spotlight. The question now is not what this season has been, but how much of this squad will be trusted to be part of what comes next.