MX23RW : Thursday, October 4 21:11:49
Sep 30, 2018 at 1.30pm UK at ​Tony Macaroni Arena (Livingston)
Attendance: 9,246
Livingston
1-0
RangersRangers
Menga (34')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Rangers must find cure for travel sickness in order to be contenders – Gerrard

Dolly Menga's first-half strike stunned Rangers at Livingston.

Steven Gerrard admits Rangers failed to respond to their rivals as they suffered from another bout of travel sickness.

The Ibrox side have not won away from home in the Ladbrokes Premiership since February and slipped up again as they lost 1-0 at Livingston.

It came after top-flight contenders Hearts, Celtic and Hibernian all picked up wins on Saturday and Gerrard – whose side slide to sixth and now trail the table-topping Jambos by eight points – has now warned Gers they can wave goodbye to their title hopes if they repeat their Tony Macaroni Arena horror show.

"I mentioned (the pressure of playing the day after their rivals) before the game," he said. "Playing on Sunday, whether that be through Europe or whether it be for TV reasons, can be an advantage if results go your way, like they did last week (with Celtic's defeat at Kilmarnock). We got a lift from it.

"I said to the players before the game that we need to show how good we are and how serious we are. All the teams around us and above us won, so with that comes with a bit of pressure and we haven't responded to that.

"It is still early on in the season so we can recover from a result like this like we recovered from the Old Firm loss. But this can't keep happening.

"When we come and play teams like Livingston we have to try and take maximum points otherwise we won't be in the title race."

Livi continue to be the surprise package of the campaign so far and only goal difference is keeping them from sitting in second spot after Dolly Menga's first-half strike left Gers stunned.

But despite their unbeaten run under his charge, boss Gary Holt is not getting carried away with the shock win.

"Until we are mathematically safe, that's when I'll start looking at what else we could achieve," he said. "Make no bones about it, we were the favourites to go down. We are still the favourites. We could lose seven games in a row. It's early days.

"It's one game. You make a big deal of it because we have beaten Rangers. But they are all big games. It is three points at the end of the day."

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General view of Queens Park Rangers' Loftus Road taken May 2015
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Tables
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Hearts7520112917
2Livingston742174314
3Celtic741274313
4Hibernian7331126612
5RangersRangers7322157811
6Kilmarnock732285311
7Aberdeen723256-19
8St Johnstone7232610-49
9Hamilton AcademicalHamilton721468-27
10Motherwell7124610-45
11St Mirren7124312-95
12Dundee7016214-121

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