JUST over a week ago, Rangers swaggered into the Old Firm clash with Celtic on the back of a six-match winning streak and full of belief that they could spark a genuine race for the Premiership title. Fast-forward to five o’clock on Saturday evening, with two crushing defeats in the past six days behind them, the current crop of Ibrox players limped to a most unwanted record.

A seventh home defeat of the season was inflicted upon them by Steve Clarke’s Kilmarnock juggernaut, who rolled on to all-but secure a top-six berth courtesy of a typically opportunistic goal from former Rangers striker Kris Boyd 10 minutes into the second half.

Other than that, there was little to warm the frostbitten punters in terms of goalmouth action, apart from two glorious opportunities that were spurned by Rangers defender Russell Martin.

In the first half, he glanced a header just wide from a peach of a Sean Goss cross, and then he crashed a late header from a James Tavernier centre off the underside of the bar, onto the post, and out to safety. But it was a meagre return for the 49,000 or so home fans who had rolled up expecting to see a reaction to the stinging loss to Celtic last weekend.

Ibrox boss Graeme Murty had plumped for Jason Cummings to lead the line in place of Alfredo Morelos after the Colombian's glaring miss against Celtic, but the role of lone frontman didn’t really suit the talents of the former Hibs forward, who like Boyd, prefers to operate within the 18-yard box.

The deflation felt by the Rangers players in the aftermath of the defeat was further exacerbated when they were informed that they were now responsible for the worst home record of any Rangers side for over a century.

For generations, the ground was regarded as a fortress that inspired fear in the opposition, but it appears that these days it is the Rangers players who get the heebie jeebies when they are faced with the blue sea of Ibrox.

There is a case for saying that the expectations of the Rangers support haven’t shifted sufficiently from the glory days of Brian Laudrup, Paul Gascoigne et al to suit the more modest talents who wear the light blue these days, but the reality seems to be that there are simply too many members of the current Rangers squad who don’t have what it takes to cut the mustard and meet such lofty demands.

What makes the home travails of Rangers all the more puzzling is their fine form on the road, lending weight to the theory that there is something in their mental make-up that cracks when they are on home soil.

“I can’t speak for the games when I wasn’t here, I was only here for the Hibs one where we played really well in the second half and should have got a draw,” said on-loan defender Martin, as he pondered the reasons behind Rangers’ woeful home record.

“We just need to keep working, I’ve said it all along. Even though we’ve been on a great run, we’re not the finished article at all.

“It’s a process, and it takes a long time to get to where the manager wants us to be. Today’s a setback, but we have to make sure we put it right and keep working on the same things.

“They will pay off, and we will get more wins than we do defeats, and we will have better days than we have today like we have recently.

“This is just a bad day, and we have to move on and make sure we show some character to bounce back.”

Of course, the approach of the opposition at home and away is also a factor, with Rangers struggling to find answers at times to break down deep-lying defences. Kilmarnock pulled off their gameplan on Saturday to a tee, with Clarke setting his team up to soak up the modest threat that Rangers posed, and they were coiled to strike on the break through the pace of Jordan Jones.

It was fortunate for Rangers and Greg Docherty in particular that the midfielder’s poor attempt at a pass-back midway through the first half fell then to the feet of Boyd 35 yards from goal, with the Kilmarnock manager joking afterwards that his striker was running backwards towards Docherty as the midfielder made a decent recovery tackle to spare his blushes.

Boyd’s strength of course is that he comes alive around six yards from goal, and so it proved again in the second half as he struck his 20th goal of the season.

Rangers made a hash of clearing a free-kick from Jones, allowing Stuart Findlay to head back into the area where Youssouf Mulumbu got a shot away across goal on the turn. Wes Foderingham sprang to his left to parry away, but it was no surprise to see Boyd first on the scene to tuck away the rebound.

And apart from the header from Martin that crashed off the woodwork, Rangers had little in the way of a response.

They may be happy to see that their next fixture in the league - against Motherwell after the international break - is at Fir Park.