Raging Kris Boyd throws Rangers defeat narrative 'in the bin' as 5 pundits react to Ross County shocker

Ross County dealt Rangers a hammer blow in the race for the title and there were no complaints among the pundits that the Staggies deserved it in Dingwall.

But that didn't stop a few scathing assessments of the title-chasers after they handed the initiative at the top back over to Celtic. It's now the champions who are favourites again as a thrilling title tussle took another twist, County coming from behind to shoot Rangers down and pick up their first EVER win over the Ibrox side.

The performance from Philippe Clement's team was alarming, particularly in a second half which they started by losing two goals within five minutes to flip the game on its head. They looked shellshocked and couldn't fight back, and former Ibrox strike hero Kris Boyd was visibly angry with the performance his old team delivered. He slammed their inability to react to the "warning signs" shown in the first half, and believes the pre-match narrative surrounding County - in which they had never beaten Rangers before in 25 games - can now be "thrown in the bin" after a seismic upset win.

He said on Sky Sports: "When you're in a title race, you need to win games. Since Clement has come in, Rangers have got back into a position where they can win it. But once you're in the position, you've got to believe you can win the title. Ross County had never beaten Rangers before and there was the stat about Ross County's record when they go behind. That can all go in the bin now.

"They were excellent today but Rangers were so far off it. The warning signs were there in the first half and you just knew Rangers weren't going to be able to lift it again (once County got in front).

"Rangers were so disjointed. (On the County equaliser) Borna Barisic is standing there for three or four seconds and doesn't react, then the County players react first. You need to match those runners to start with."

Host Eilidh Barbour later asked Boyd if Rangers needed an early scare to spark them into life. But he wasn't having that as he said: "That's a myth. Whenever anybody says you want to go behind to an early goal to wake you up, or that you've scored too early, it's a myth. If you find yourself ahead when you've not been great, you come out in the second half and lift it. Rangers were worse in the second half."

Boyd's partner in crime Chris Sutton meanwhile reckons Clement wasn't quite practicing what he preached as he singled out Clement's moan about 'strange preparation' in his post-match press conference. He said: "Philippe Clement says he wasn't making any excuses, then he alludes to the lack of preparation due to the Dundee game...'

And assessing the performance, he went on: "We all expected Rangers to go on and win the game (after the first goal). I think maybe the players expected that too, and that was their downfall.

"This Rangers team should have been good enough to win. We've praised Clement all season for getting a tune out of the players. Maybe today he'll look at this and think he made too many changes. For Ross County to carry that much of a threat to Rangers, that surprised me."

On Sky's coverage, James McFadden said there was no "desire" from the Rangers players to win the game. Sutton then quizzed him over how that's possible considering the situation they find themselves in, within touching distance of the title race if they win their remaining games.

But an irked McFadden responded: "There's no question about it, you can see it. There's no desire to run, defend the situation, get back into position, put pressure on the ball. I don't know how it is, but it's happening. You've got to look at yourself as a player, it can't be someone else doing it for you."

On BBC's radio coverage, former Gers striker Billy Dodds admitted it was a "body blow" for Clement - who he thinks will need some time to get his head around what just happened. He said: "Philippe Clement would have bit your hand off for a point at the end because it would then be a straight shootout for the title with Celtic if they managed to win all of their games.

"It's such a body blow for Clement, when you think of where his team have came from and got themselves to. I would say today's performance was bewildering for him."

And John Robertson, echoing McFadden's comments about a lack of desire, said: "No one watching on TV, or here in the stadium, could say Ross County didn't deserve to win. It was a backs-to-the-wall performance. You have to ride your luck, dig in, put bodies on the line. They did that at times, but they also played with composure, they knocked the ball about well.

"Dhanda and Sims played in the pockets and caused the Rangers full backs all sorts of problems. Murray didn't give Souttar or Goldson a minute all day. The big thing today was the lack of desire in the Rangers team today. That is the worrying thing. You can see it in the second goal. Harmon has run the length of the park to get there. That was the desire, hunger, energy and intensity that every County player brought today."