KENNY Miller has refused to blame the wait for a new manager for Rangers’ shock 2-0 defeat to Hamilton Accies. The Ibrox side were looking to secure a hat-trick of victories for the first time in 2017 but Hamilton’s first league win at Ibrox for 91 years will spark renewed demands from fans for Rangers to sort out a replacement for Pedro Caixinha.
Caretaker boss Graeme Murty had secured six points from his first two matches but Rangers had not even drawn up a final shortlist more than three weeks after Caixinha was sacked.
They had said they would do that after the end of this week but their search could be complicated by their double-header with Aberdeen, managed by the favourite for the post, Derek McInnes, which follows Friday night’s match against Dundee.
The hosts created a catalogue of chances and hit the bar twice but Alfredo Morelos, who has now gone nine games without a goal, squandered enough opportunities to win the match on his own.
Miller said: “To be honest, whether there’s a new manager in place or not, it hasn’t affected the lads. We had a good week in training and we knew if we performed well, we would win the game. I think we performed reasonably well, but you can’t afford to miss the chances we missed and expect to win games.
“Murts has come in and done a great job, like he did the last time, and the lads respond to what he wants done. Training has been bright and there has been a lift since he came in. Whether he is second favourite, favourite, 10th favourite doesn’t really matter. We have let ourselves down with the result. We are all in it together.”
Where Rangers and Morelos in particular were wasteful, Hamilton were clinical. David Templeton capitalised on a mistake by Ross McCrorie to score early in the second half, and Darren Lyon netted after a breakaway late on.
Hamilton boss Martin Canning said: “I have been on the opposite end where you don’t play particularly badly but where everything falls the wrong way. This time everything fell right for us and it’s just a fantastic result.”
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