Glasgow Rangers moved themselves back up to second in the Scottish Premiership as they won at Ibrox.
After being dispatched in the Scottish Cup semi-final last weekend, Rangers seemed to be making the headlines for all the wrong reasons during the week with the club confirming that both Kenny Miller and Lee Wallace have been suspended due to an incident after their defeat at Hampden Park.
The Gers managed to put the events of the previous days to the back of their minds as the Light Blues won 2-1 against Hearts to ensure that they head into the final four games of the campaign in second place.
And Murty suggested that his message to the players centred around the idea that they could ultimately benefit from what has gone on in recent times if they managed to go and win – which, of course, they did.
“I’ve got to back the players and I’ve got to give them massive credit. I thought they stood up today and they did themselves the world of good. It’s been a difficult week and I said to them: ‘if you come through this week and you come out of it with a positive, you’ll be so much stronger for it’. I know I will be and I think the players will be also,” he told Rangers TV.
For their chances of finishing second, it was an important win for the Gers with both Aberdeen and Hibernian bagging victories on Saturday. But it would surely be fair to say that there still appears to be a cloud hanging over Ibrox right now, and that may only begin to lift if they manage to get a positive result against Celtic next weekend.
The lack of clarity surrounding Miller and Wallace’s situations as well as the plans for Murty beyond the end of the season arguably leaves the club in a state of limbo for the time-being. So while the win over Hearts may help inject some much-needed positivity into the squad, it seems unlikely that the three points will change the mood substantially after such a bleak period for the Light Blues.
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