RANGERS have spent recent weeks and months striving to catch leaders Hearts at the top of the SPFL Championship table.

But with the Tynecastle club pulling 15 points clear on Saturday they now have an altogether different objective.

Staying ahead of Hibs, Queen of the South and Falkirk in the second tier and securing a play-off spot will be their aim in the second half of the season.

And given how poorly they have performed lately - in their 4-0 defeat at Easter Road at the weekend especially - there is no guarantee they will do that.

Even if the Light Blues do manage to finish in the top four, what are their chances of then clinching promotion to the top flight?

In the wake of one of the worst performances and results in their 142-year history, completing "The Journey" in the 2014/15 campaign looks unlikely.

The Gers were disappointing against full-time opposition for the umpteenth time this term and slumped to their heaviest defeat against Hibs away since 1912.

It was their fourth consecutive reverse on the road after losses to Hearts, Alloa and Queen of the South.

During that abject run, they have conceded 11 goals and netted just twice.

It was also the most goals that Rangers have conceded in a domestic competition since they were thrashed 6-2 by Celtic at Parkhead way back in 2000.

It is very difficult to see how caretaker manager Kenny McDowall can turn the fortunes of Rangers around with the players that he currently has at his disposal.

As his side unravelled through in Edinburgh there were few options available to McDowall, taking charge of his first match since the departure of Ally McCoist, in the dugout.

He brought on Kyle Hutton for Ian Black, who had been booked for a cynical and needless foul on Scott Allan and was in serious danger of being ordered off, in the first half.

Then Kris Boyd took over from Fraser Aird at half time and Dean Shiels came on for Kenny Miller for the closing stages when the home team had sewed up all three points.

None of them were able to influence proceedings.

It looks highly doubtful, too, that the Ibrox club will be able to strengthen significantly, if at all, in the transfer window next month.

If George Letham, Douglas Park and George Taylor are successful in their bid to buy £6.5 million-worth of shares, that money will not be used to bring in players.

The troubled Glasgow giants need to find £8.3 million of additional funding just to keep them afloat in 2015.

There has been talk of some youth players from Newcastle United being sent up to Scotland on loan for the remainder of the 2014/15 campaign courtesy of shareholder Mike Ashley.

But will a couple of kids make much difference to the League One champions given the state of disarray they are currently in?

"At the moment I am just going to have to work with the squad that is there," said McDowall.

"I can't just invent players. We just have to get the sleeves up in training."

Rangers are totally lacking in confidence and creativity in all areas of the park just now and it is nigh on impossible to see how, with ongoing unrest off the field exacerbating matters, they can find form.

The prospect of taking on Celtic in the semi-final of the League Cup at Hampden on February 1 is currently an unthinkable one for their longsuffering supporters.

Rangers will almost certainly improve when Lewis Macleod, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, returns to full fitness.

The midfielder has been their best outfield player by far.

But the Scotland Under-21 internationalist is a lad of just 20.

Too much responsibility should not, for all his ability and maturity, be placed on his young shoulders.

McDowall, though, is optimistic that matters will improve and he is looking for a positive response against Dumbarton when his side return to action at Ibrox this weekend.

It is worth remembering, too, that Rangers have beaten three Premiership teams this season and defeated Kilmarnock 3-0 in the Scottish Cup at the end of last month.

"We have been winning games," said McDowall. "It's not like we have still to win a games.

"We just have to get back to winning games and see where that takes us. If it's a play-off it's a play-off. We're prepared to go there."

But could Rangers get the better of this Hibs side, or even Queen of the South or Falkirk for that matter, to book a game against the second bottom side in the highest division?

They have been heavily defeated by Alan Stubbs' side both home and away in the league this term and the former Celtic defender is convinced his charges can perform better.

"It wasn't perfect," said Stubbs.

"I think we can get better, I really do. I think as a manager you are always striving for that perfect performance.

"I would like to see one that was."

His opposite number at Rangers would settle for a display that was simply competent as he tries to prevent the Ibrox club's season from imploding.