Something to build on at Rangers ... but Russell Martin knows he's not out of the woods yet. Far from it

Russell Martin didn’t jump in with both feet when asked if this job-saving win over Hibs was a turning point. It was wise. 

He termed it something to build from, something that could be termed important with regard to improving the general standard of performance, but he knows himself he isn’t out of the woods yet. Far from it.

This was better from Rangers. No doubt about it. But that doesn’t exactly say much. Other than a home win over Viktoria Plzen in Champions League qualifying, and possibly the Jack Butland-inspired victory over Panathinaikos right back at the start of all of this, they had been nothing short of atrocious until David Gray’s men turned up in Govan in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals.

Goals from Nico Raskin, back in the team after a spell in Siberia, and Bojan Miovski shortly before half-time kickstarted things and the second half ended up being a bit of a procession against a visiting team that lost their way completely.

However, were it not for Hibs attacker Martin Boyle, looking a little jaded after a hectic run of games and travel of late, failing to switch his head on during the first half, this could have been considerably different.

Rangers dominated possession early doors, but creating chances remains a major, major problem. They were tiresome to watch in the first 40 minutes with the big opportunities before Raskin’s opener — a header from a James Tavernier corner — falling Hibs’ way. And, specifically, Boyle’s.

On 16 minutes, he put the ball over from a great position after being set up by Kieron Bowie. Shortly afterwards, he had the ball in the net after winning a footrace with Derek Cornelius, only for a VAR review to discover he had controlled the ball with his hand.

Even at 1-0, he really should have levelled things up when heading wide from inside the area. It wouldn’t have taken much to enrage the home supporters during a febrile afternoon which saw protests on the street against Martin and CEO Patrick Stewart before kick-off carry on inside Ibrox when the action got under way, but the Easter Road outfit never really made any serious capital from that.

In the end, the atmosphere among the home support — vastly reduced as a result of the game not being on the season-ticket — felt relatively positive.

Martin, who rushed up the tunnel amid a barrage of abuse at the end of the visit of Hearts the previous week, even felt safe enough to stand at the edge of the technical area and make a point of congratulating every single one of his players — even Raskin — before heading inside for a meeting with chairman Andrew Cavenagh, Stewart and the rest of senior management.

He no doubt had some positives to point to in that pow-wow, which, contrary to the predictions of almost everyone inside the ground, didn’t centre around checking his address for the P45 and booking in a removals firm to empty his office at Auchenhowie.

Djeidi Gassama and Thelo Aasgaard continue to look like promising recruits. If a truce has been reached with Raskin — uneasy or otherwise — that’s good, because he makes a big difference, particularly in a role that suits his style.

Derek Cornelius brings a bit more solidity at the back, although losing that footrace with Boyle still raises questions over the wisdom of defending with such a high line at times.

And seeing Miovski score felt like some kind of justice after two-and-a-half games of barely getting a pass to feet far less any kind of chances to pounce upon. Until netting from a deflected Mikey Moore effort, he must have been wondering what he’d signed up for at Rangers.

There is still plenty of unsettling stuff around the Ibrox outfit, though. So many questions about recruitment and whether or not there’s enough in the squad to deal with handling domestic concerns alongside Europa League action, which begins on Thursday evening with the visit of Belgian outfit Genk.

Oliver Antman cost £4m from Go Ahead Eagles and can’t get a game ahead of young Moore. Manny Fernandez cost more than £2m from Peterborough United, following previous spells at Ramsgate and Spalding United, and has disappeared from sight. Throw in the £10m committed to Youssef Chermiti — still on the bench and still without a goal — and you’re talking about something like £16m worth of investments not really having all that much of a say in things.

Jayden Meghoma is showing signs of settling into some kind of rhythm at left-back, but other high-profile loan deals such as those which brought Nasser Djiga and Max Aarons to the club are looking like a waste of time, energy and money.

Aarons has spent the last three games stuck on the bench after his ridiculous sending-off in that six-goal humiliation at the hands of Club Brugge while Djiga, who, inexplicably, cost Wolves £10m from Red Star Belgrade, has been a bombscare in pretty much every game he has played.

The way it’s going right now, it won’t be long until sporting director Kevin Thelwell’s coupon is splattered on those posters and banners demanding that Martin and Stewart get cancelled tout-suite.

You also get the sense there’s still a bit of a disconnect between head coach and players. Maybe Saturday was a step forward. Maybe Martin congratulating his side on the way off the park was a sign of bonds being built, but it just felt a bit performative. A bit like the former Swansea and Southampton boss trying too hard to show that he has good relations with a squad of players he slaughtered after a dreadful show at Motherwell on the opening day of the league season and has since described as scared and anxious.

There’s a run of Premiership games coming up that Rangers, second-bottom of the table, should win. Livingston and Falkirk away followed by Dundee United and Kilmarnock at home are four matches that offer a great opportunity to show that the cup victory over Hibs can, indeed, be a turning point.

It’s just that they are going to have to be juggled with European commitments and, although Genk, Sturm Graz and Brann are hardly elite opposition, it is difficult to see this side emerging from this run of fixtures without sustaining further bumps, bruises and holes below the water line. They just don’t look resilient enough.

What’s more, if the weekend showed one thing, it’s that the punters aren’t going to let the manager away with anything now. It’s going to take something exceptional, an unbeaten run of legendary proportions, for Martin to even be tolerated by the fanbase and there’s still no convincing evidence to suggest that he or his squad are remotely capable of that. Hard-earned win over a disappointing Hibs under the belt or not.