Rangers held 2-2 at Livingston as Röhl warns squad to guard against complacency

The rangers slipped to a 2-2 draw away at bottom‑placed Livingston, a match Livingston manager Marvin Bartley said felt like a "rollercoaster" and which head coach Danny Röhl used to reiterate the need for consistency with six matches before the league split. The result tightens an already volatile title race and leaves margins narrow heading into the run‑in.

Rangers: Röhl stresses consistency with six matches before the split

Danny Röhl insisted there should be "no question mark" over his players' ability to handle a title fight, stressing that the next six matches effectively prepare teams for the final five after the split in April. He noted Rangers are two points behind leaders Hearts and one clear of Celtic, who have a game in hand, and warned that what looks like a routine three points can have outsized consequences for the gap at the split.

Röhl pointed to recent form as evidence of progress: Rangers have lost just one of their 19 league matches since he replaced Russell Martin in October, a run that has produced the most top‑flight points in that period. He urged the squad to approach games "very seriously, very aggressively, " and drew a parallel with Arsenal's 2-2 draw at Wolves to underline how favourites can be caught out when opponents have little to lose.

Livingston 2-2 Rangers: Bartley cites sending‑off as turning point

Livingston manager Marvin Bartley described the match as "a real rollercoaster of emotions" and said he would have taken a 2-2 result before kick‑off. Bartley added that his side had been comfortable at 2-0, but identified a sending‑off as the decisive moment that changed the course of the game.

He praised his players' effort — "The players gave me everything today and that's all I can ask for" — while warning that escaping their league position will require significant work. Bartley also said he saw encouraging signs despite the club's difficult situation.

Table tensions: Motherwell, Hearts and Celtic tighten the picture

The weekend produced results that intensified pressure at the top: Celtic were beaten at home while Motherwell and Hearts both won, moves that reshaped immediate permutations. Motherwell would move to one point behind Celtic and three behind Rangers ahead of their head‑to‑head fixtures, and Hibs sit five points behind Motherwell with two matches to play against them.

Commentators and match‑day voices warned the standings are unstable: it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Motherwell could finish above Celtic or Rangers, perhaps both, leaving Celtic and Rangers potentially third and fourth in the table if momentum shifts again before the split.

Hibs, David Gray and the local reaction to the weekend

Hibs head coach David Gray said his side's draw and recent positive result against St Mirren signalled progress, remarking that "that's twice we've been here this season and not lost" and calling the three points "massive". Gray emphasised incremental improvement — "It's all about us. How can we keep improving?" — and reiterated his team's aim to push up the table one game at a time.

The weekend attracted sharp criticism elsewhere. Former Hearts and Hibs midfielder Michael Stewart questioned Russell Martin's assessment of his own team, calling claims of a "terrific" performance deluded and singling out defensive issues and a lack of scoring as concerns. Additional commentary castigated Martin and highlighted Trusty in strongly negative terms, arguing the performance was far from convincing.

Broadcast and timing: where the action landed this weekend

The Livingston v Rangers fixture had been scheduled for a 3pm kick‑off with live coverage starting at 2. 30pm on Sky Sports. Post‑match highlights for the Scottish Premiership were slated for Sportscene on Scotland at 19: 15. The timing matters because each result now slides directly into the six‑match window that will shape standings ahead of the split.

What makes this notable is how a single disciplinary moment — the sending‑off Bartley identified — and the narrow margins in match outcomes can rapidly alter the title landscape, reinforcing Röhl's central point: consistency across the remaining fixtures is decisive.