Danny Rohl labels himself Hearts 'hunter' after statement win as Rangers boss fired up for title race chase
Their victory over Dundee at Ibrox was Rangers’ eighth in a row in all competitions.
Hearts’ Premiership rivals Rangers are hitting form at the right time in this season’s Premiership and manager Danny Rohl is relishing the challenge of catching them.
The Light Blues defeated Dundee 3-0 at home on Sunday, gaining on both Hearts and Celtic after their Gorgie stalemate. James Tavernier scored his 100th league goal from the spot to open the scoring, before two late strikes from substitutes Danilo and Djeidi Gassama sealed the three points.
Rangers have now won every single game since their Tynecastle defeat last month. On that day they went nine points behind their Edinburgh rivals, but their recent run as seen them bridge the gap to four. Following the Dundee victory, the Rangers boss labelled his side as the ‘hunter’ in terms of the title race.
‘15 games to go, we want to be the hunter’
Rohl said: “In general, how we come from a difficult moment to such a run. We know, and I think this is the good part when I look at my group inside the dressing room, still after 3-0, that we think we want to do more and better. We are not lazy now and think ‘everything goes well’. No, they are still hungry.
“I think this is what I try to live every day in front of them, be humble as well, and if we do this again and again, 15 games to go, we want to be the hunter, we want to hunt on the pitch with our pressing, we want to hunt the teams around us, be on the front foot, then we have a lot of fun.
“Yes, I always demand, even in the second half. I'm a guy who is on the front foot. I want to see that we push our limits, if you come on, you have to deliver, you have to run for the team. I think this is the big, big message: you have to work at first for the team, not for your own. If you do this, then we always have a chance to win games.”
Rohl delighted with ‘statement’ win
The Rangers boss also commended his team’s defensive efforts on their eight game winning run as the Light Blues now have seven clean sheets in their last 10. He continued: “I think at the moment it's phenomenal for my team, eight wins, a lot of clean sheets, it's for me a big statement.
“It feels great (closing the gap), but hopefully the feeling will get better and better during the second half of the season, because this is still a long way to go, we know this. I know, as Rangers, the demand is high to get a lot of wins.
“But for me it's also eight wins in-a-row, it's a statement, especially from which point we are, and if we can continue this, and we do our homework and we go again, then, yeah, it's on. Big respect to our supporters, I think they feel now what is possible, we try our best to be on the front foot every game, and then we go forward together.”