Rangers’ title bid suffers County setback as Clement bemoans missed chances

Philippe Clement claimed his Rangers players failed to heed his half-time warning before slipping to a historic defeat to Ross County which dented their Premiership title hopes.

Staggies skipper Jack Baldwin scored an own goal after 15 minutes of a first half in which the home side could have netted at least twice against a below-par Gers outfit.

County then scored two quick-fire second-half goals through Simon Murray and George Harmon before Josh Sims added a stunning third and the hosts survived a late penalty from Gers skipper James Tavernier to win 3-2. It was the Dingwall club’s first victory over Rangers after 20 defeats and four draws in 24 previous meetings.

The result leaves Clement’s side four points behind Celtic, 3-0 victors over St Mirren on Saturday. However they do have a game in hand against Dundee on Wednesday, while second-bottom County moved to within a point of 10th-placed St Johnstone as they go into the split.

Clement (right) said: “We threw away the points today. We didn’t start well enough in the first half on the ball and in the duels. We had chances but we were not lethal with the chances we had in the first half, a few of which were clear ones.

“You come into half-time in a good way 1-0 ahead and I warned the players it was not good enough in the first half and I wanted to see more second half and keep the clean sheet, but then you concede two goals in five minutes or something like that and start to chase the game.

“That makes it more difficult and you give energy to the opponent who get more energy and put their bodies in front of the ball all over the pitch to make a decisive duel.

“In the last half hour, I saw the urgency and I wanted to see that 90 minutes long, not 30 minutes long. There were too many mistakes made in our defensive part which is not usual from our team.

“There were some strange goals to concede and we didn’t score enough with the opportunities we had.

“In the end we give a lot of energy to our opponent and all credit to Ross County who defended with a big heart until the end.

“We need to see the opposition team don’t get so much energy by being better with and without the ball.”