ROLL BACK THE YEAR

Old habits die hard as Rangers cough up more points on road

- ANDY NEWPORT

LEITH'S yellow weather warning was waved off before Rangers arrived in town.

But there's a new high-pressure system set to move back in over Ibrox.

Having broken his Old Firm duck, Philippe Clement set his side a New Year resolution of finding the consistency that had evaded them throughout the past 12 months.

But it was back to the bad habits of 2024 as they allowed some scintillating attacking play to be undone by some hair-brained stuff at the back.

The showers of snow that were predicted earlier this week failed to appear but it was still Baltic at Easter Road. And it was Gers who got off to a red-hot start as they created a blizzard of early chances.

Hamza Igamane took two within the first 20 minutes but when Rangers allowed Martin Boyle to pull one back, they lost their grip.

Igamane completed his hat-trick in the second half but only after Boyle had also netted again from the spot.

Gers had victory in sight but just like they did in Paisley and Motherwell before the Bells, they couldn't get the job done as Rocky Bushiri capped off a six-goal thriller with another equaliser.

With Celtic's Premiership lead now back up to 13 points, Clement's position is now back in the spotlight.

He thought he'd bought some breathing room with Thursday's result but he can expect another round of speculation on his long-term future.

The sport scientists were given the rubber ear as the Rangers boss named his team.

But given Jack Butland, James Tavernier, Leon Balogun and John Souttar were all still unavailable the Gers gaffer didn't really have much choice but to go with the same side that swiped Celtic aside.