Gordon Smith: Rangers title success is far from a given

RANGERS fans who have been looking forward to watching their club in Premiership action next season had better not start making plans just yet.

Simply put, anyone who believes the Championship title chase to be a one-horse race is wrong.

There is no other conclusion to be drawn three months into the campaign.

At Easter Road last Sunday, Alan Stubbs’ Hibs side proved they are the real deal.

I was really impressed by their performance and the spirit they showed to beat a Rangers side, which up until that point had been able to boast a 100% league record.

Now I know when the dust had settled, the Light Blues were still clear leaders of the division.

I also accept the point this was one match they won, only one defeat too for Mark Warburton’s men.

Equally I also hear the arguments from Rangers supporters that with a wee bit kinder fortune on the day, the result could have been very different.

However, I would argue, it is even more important to put the result into context of Hibs season.

This was a victory which stretched their unbeaten run in all competitions to eleven games.

That’s a sequence which includes impressive cup wins over Aberdeen and Dundee United, two of the country’s biggest clubs.

You can’t post that kind of form unless you are doing something right.

And last Sunday, it was easy for everybody to see exactly what.

The football Hibs played was bright and positive.

They looked a decent unit with every individual player clear about what they were supposed to be doing on the pitch and happy to get on with things.

Their midfield is particularly good.

It has a great balance to it with Liam Henderson, a loan pick up from Celtic, great on the left and John McGinn outstanding in the centre.

While Scott Allan’s switch from Hibs to Celtic, rather than Rangers the club he supported as a boy, was the talk of the steamie, McGinn’s move from St Mirren in the summer went comparatively unnoticed.

Three months later, Allan is largely conspicuous by his absence at Celtic while Hibs have gone from strength to strength in his wake.

Part of the reason for that, too, has been the form of Jason Cummings up front.

He has been scoring every week recently and netted a cracker against Rangers.

From a selfish point of view, one of the most encouraging things is that all these players we are talking about are young Scottish talents.

McGinn is 21 years old and Henderson just 19.

Both have already represented Scotland at age level and, with the right development, it doesn’t take much of a stretch to see them playing in the senior side in years to come.