John Souttar urges Rangers fans to ‘judge at end of season’ after derby setback

John Souttar admits Rangers fans are right to question the players’ mentality after they surrendered a commanding two-goal lead against Celtic – but he asked for more time before they make their judgement.

A stunning overhead kick from striker Youssef Chermiti put the home side at Ibrox ahead after eight minutes and he cleverly added a second after 26 minutes as Danny Rohl’s side dominated their Old Firm rivals.

However, in an unforseen second-half turnaround, goals from left-back Kieran Tierney and substitute Reo Hatate – after Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland had saved his last-gasp spot-kick and his second effort from a rebound – left home supporters despondent about a 2-2 draw that felt like a defeat.

With nine fixtures remaining, Rangers are six points behind William Hill Premiership leaders Hearts and two ahead of Celtic, whose game in hand is away to Aberdeen on Wednesday night.

Rangers have drawn four of their last six league games and 12 in total this season and, when it was suggested that fans will ask if this Rangers group has a mentality issue when it comes to having the bottle to push on and make it count, the Scotland defender said: “Yeah, of course that’s going to be the question.

“What I can say is that we need to be judged at the end of the season because there’s nine games left and if I was a fan looking just now, I’d be asking the same questions, it’s natural.

“But for me, we’ve got to be really clean in the next nine games.

“We’ve got to stand up and we’ve got to win and we can’t afford slip ups.

“Obviously Hearts are six points ahead so it’s up to them and we’ve got to hope they drop points and we’ve got to win every game.

“But I’d say ask us at the end of the season and judge us then.”

Souttar claimed Rangers’ impressive first-half display can be a benchmark for the remainder of the season – Celtic visit Ibrox again next Sunday in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup quarter-final tie – but acknowledged it has to be for the whole game.

He said: “I personally think that’s when we’re at our best, when we’re physical.

“The crowd was up, we were playing in their half, fast, aggressive football and we were the same against Hearts at home (4-2 win).

“But we’ve got to do it for the full game. There’s no point doing it for 45-50 minutes.

“We’ve got to keep that going for the full game and yes, there’ll be periods where we can’t do that the full game.

“Celtic are a good side, there’ll be moments when they have possession when they play their game and it’s important then that we’re a bit more experienced and we get into a shape and we’re difficult to play through.”