Rangers suffered a narrow 3-2 loss against Celtic last Sunday.
Former Rangers star Derek Johnstone has told the Glasgow Evening Times that Graeme Murty made a mistake during the Old Firm derby against Celtic, regarding striker Jason Cummings.
The 22-year-old striker came on the 74th minute as the Gers suffered a 3-2 loss at the hands of their bitter rivals Celtic, which has seen the Scottish Premiership title race tilt massively into the Hoops’ favour.
Rangers took the lead twice through Josh Windass and Daniel Candeias in the first half, but failed to capitalise on Jozo Simunovic’s 57th-minute red card as Tom Rogic, Moussa Dembele and Odsonne Edouard all found the back of the net.
Johnstone, who played for Rangers for a total of 14 years in two spells, believes Murty should have brought Nottingham Forest loanee Cummings on to the field immediately after Simunovic’s dismissal – not 17 minutes later.
“I would have loved to have seen Graeme Murty make such a positive change as soon as Jozo Simunovic got his marching orders, and send on Jason Cummings to partner Alfredo Morelos and lay down a marker that Rangers were going all out to grasp the nettle when the game was there for the taking,” Johnstone said.
“Instead, he hesitated, handing Celtic the initiative and only calling on Cummings once the damage had been done.”
Cummings had been in excellent form prior to the clash against Celtic, scoring a hat-trick against Falkirk in the Scottish Cup in a 4-1 win.
The defeat to Brendan Rodgers’ men sees Celtic go nine points clear at the top with a game in hand, with the Scottish Premiership split coming up next month.
It has called Murty’s long-term future at the club into doubt with his current contract seeing him remain at Ibrox until the end of the season, which could give added weight to the next Old Firm bout in the Scottish Cup semi-final on April 15.
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