Rangers left it late to beat Livingston in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday, with Max Aarons scoring in stoppage time to record Russell Martin’s first win in the league – but their performance has seen fans still want their new boss sacked despite jumping up to eighth after a poor start to the campaign.
James Tavernier fired the Ibrox outfit ahead in the 23rd minute, although he missed a penalty just five minutes later. And, when Mohamad Sylla equalised with little over 20 minutes to go, that same daunting feeling would have been sinking in for Martin as he chased his first win in the league since taking the role over the summer.
Heart & Hand: Russell Martin Still Needs to be Sacked by Rangers Despite Win
Aarons’ late strike with an assist from Nico Raskin, who Martin had earlier frozen out thanks to transfer speculation, pushed Rangers from eleventh up to eighth, still nine points adrift of league leaders Hearts.
However, despite the win, Rangers podcasters Heart & Hand stated that Martin still needs to be sacked, owing to his poor performances earlier in the season. They wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
“A league win! Hurrah! Still needs sacked.”
Rangers did boast 64 percent possession, but they only had 12 shots throughout the game, which wasn’t much more than Livingston’s nine on a testing day at the Almondvale Stadium.
It means that they have still scored just five goals in the league. Only St Mirren, who have scored five goals and sit in third, as well bottom-placed goalless Aberdeen have fared equally or worse than the Gers. Draws against Motherwell, Dundee, St Mirren and Celtic ensured a poor start to the campaign, whilst a loss to Hearts really set the boo boys off at Ibrox before the international break.
The win over Livingston does provide Martin some breathing space in terms of keeping his job, with Rangers taking on Austrian outfit Sturm Graz in the Europa League on Thursday – but he must be wary of more poor results if he is to keep his job and hopefully see the Light Blues progress on the continent and in the domestic league before he can start to fend off any sack-fuelled shouts.
Their European campaign has surprisingly been their worst part of the season. Progression in the Champions League qualifiers was brought to an abrupt halt after a 9-1 aggregate pasting by Club Brugge, and a 1-0 loss to fellow Belgian side Genk in midweek saw a shocking start to their Europa League league phase.
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