I said after the defeat to Hamilton a couple of weeks ago that the Rangers players had to have a look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves some difficult questions.

Losing to Dundee the following Friday wasn’t the reaction that Graeme Murty was looking for from his players. Since then, though, the results have certainly been better.

The two wins over Aberdeen were really important ones and they have been followed up with hard-fought victories at home to Ross County and away to Hibernian. But I won’t say that Rangers have turned a corner.

They have won four games. Big deal. Rangers are expected to win games and a run like that is not something to shout about.

Rangers haven’t won as many games as they needed to over the last 18 months and that is why Celtic finished so far ahead of them last season. This term, we have already dropped too many points that they really shouldn’t have.

Not many people would have backed us to get nine points from the games with Aberdeen and Hibs and those results will breed a lot of confidence in the squad.

Some were saying that we could be in the bottom six at the end of a difficult run of matches but we are up to second and are determined to stay there, at least.

In the Aberdeen matches, I think the players knew that Derek McInnes might be their new manager and they wanted to catch his eye and show him that they weren’t bad players. That did lift them.

I don’t think the same effort was put into the County game but this squad is slowly learning what it means to play for Rangers and what it takes to be successful here.

If the Rangers fans don’t think you are giving your all, they are going to let you know all about it. And you have to be able to handle that.

There are players that are performing better but most of them could still do more for the side and Rangers need to keep improving going forward.

The performance against Hibernian wasn’t the best, but Rangers were resilient and they kept going and going.

Neil Lennon might have felt his side were unlucky not to get something, but that’s football.

How many times this season have Rangers dominated and played well and not won it?

The handball claim against David Bates was a penalty kick every day of the week but Kevin Clancy didn’t give it and it is his call that matters.

For me, I would be looking for a penalty for that. It was careless. It is not as if he has punched it away, but it is a penalty.

I look at some of the games this season where big decisions have been made and big decisions have gone against Rangers.

Ryan Jack was sent off in the first game against Hibernian and lost 3-2. The card was then rescinded, but the damage had been done for Rangers.

We have had our fair share of decisions go against us and Graeme won’t be concerned that we maybe got a wee break at Easter Road.

This game is about keeping the ball out of one net and putting it in the other, and Rangers did that better than Hibs.

With a few minutes to go of the first half, the players would have been expecting some harsh words from Graeme because it wasn’t good enough overall.

All of a sudden, Josh Windass and Alfredo Morelos score, they are 2-1 up and the team-talk changes. At the end of the game, the result is the only thing that matters.

Neil said that he was pleased with the performance from his side and that it was the biggest battering he has given Rangers. But, Rangers won and that always has to be the bottom line.

All that matters for Rangers right now is winning matches. If you can play well at the same time, great. But we need to win the games to keep ourselves up there.

Something has got to give this weekend when Aberdeen play Hibs and the ideal result for Rangers is probably a draw. That, of course, will come second in terms of importance to us beating St Johnstone.

I know Tommy Wright’s side aren’t in the best of form at the moment but they will still be right up for it at Ibrox, just like County were last weekend.

Like the Hibernian game, maybe we didn’t deserve to win it. But we got the goals that mattered and got the points and that is the main positive for Graeme to take.

The Aberdeen game at Ibrox was the benchmark for Rangers this season and that is the level they have to better if they are going to finish second in the Premiership or get anywhere near Celtic.

There are some matches, the like the Old Firm fixtures, that should take care of themselves but the ones against the likes of County and St Johnstone are the ones we struggle with, especially at home.

It is important that you develop that winning mentality and putting together four victories in-a-row will help in that regard.

But Rangers need to continue in that vain now and take that run to five, six, seven games heading into the meeting with Celtic at the end of the month.