Rangers directly answer Hearts 'surprise' question as Danny Rohl spots what's made Jambos title contenders

Rangers boss Danny Rohl says consistency is the key to Hearts’ sustained Premiership title charge.

The Tynecastle side are the first team outside of Rangers and Celtic since 1991 to be top of the Scottish top flight as play enters February. Battling a day before the Glasgow pair, Hearts can go nine points ahead of both their nearest title rivals by defeating St Mirren on Tuesday night, having extended the gap on Rangers last weekend by defeating Dundee United as they drew at Hibs.

Ibrox head coach Rohl was asked if he’s ‘surprised’ to see Hearts remain out in front and noted their impressive consistency. That said, he insisted all that mattered was being top come matchday 38 and the final game of this season. Rohl said ahead of Rangers meeting Kilmarnock: “I think in general they are very consistent in what they are doing, even if we took a lot of points and we closed the gaps closer and closer, at the moment they have the advantage.

What has made Hearts title challengers?

“They are always six points ahead, even if they play a draw, they are still ahead, but we come in the final weeks, and the good thing is we have a minimum of two games against them. I think this helps us as well. They have to play some strong opponents. We will see, you can be maybe 37 games on top of the table, more important is where you are at the end of the season, and this is the mindset we need in these last couple of months now.

“I think this is also what I want to say, and I know a draw never feels nice, we know this, we are also disappointed, but a draw in Hibs, and I think this is what I learned now since I am here, Hibs is a tough place to go. It's not the end of the world. I think this is also crucial to understand. On my part, I understand the disappointment completely, because we are emotional. We want to do this, but a draw, take the point at the end, the point could be very important for us as well.

“Tomorrow we are ready to go again against the opponent, they took a first win since October, with the manager. We know him, you know him, he will bring a lot of energy, spirit, he wants to show how good he is of course, we have to be ready for the next big fight, because this is tough in this league, and if we do our homework, then we will see where we are after this matchday.

Danny Rohl on Rangers vs Kilmarnock

I felt it straight in the dressing room, my players were not happy with the result. They were disappointed and they felt there was more on, but I felt during the game it will be tough to take three points. With a little bit of luck you score with Mikey Moore. The good thing is, and this is for me very helpful, the experience from the first four to six weeks here in this club, to handle the situations.

You can celebrate, I think it was Dundee away when we won 3-0, and two weeks later you conceded a goal as well in Dundee, and you see the reaction, and I think this is for me important. I take the wins very seriously; this is the job that we have to win games, but on the other side, I will not celebrate too much, because for celebration, it's too early, we can celebrate at the end of the season when we achieve something, but if we draw, it's not that everything is over.

“I think, especially in this window, we showed a lot of what we wanted to do. I think we made good signings, signings with potential. We made some good decisions where we moved players out, in cases where we were not convinced they were helpful for the future. If you want to be prepared in this window, as well as our window in the summer, some decisions are taken to clean the squad in some positions, and it helps massively.”