Source: Team_Talk
Smith deflated after Ibrox draw
Rangers appeared to be cruising to victory after goals from Kyle Lafferty and Barry Ferguson provided a comfortable advantage at half-time.[LNB]But Hearts sparked into life in the second half and fought back for a point when Christos Karipidis and Ruben Palazuelos both netted in a blistering three-minute spell.[LNB]A win for Celtic against Dundee United on Sunday would allow the champions to extend their lead to five points.[LNB]"The impact on the championship depends always on other teams' results," said Smith.[LNB]"We can only look at the situation that we have had at the moment and we are making it extremely difficult for ourselves, especially at home, where we have dropped five points in the last two games.[LNB]"That's a huge disappointment, especially when you are the better side for 90% of the two games.[LNB]"It's difficult for us to take. When we look at our own team, and the way that we play, there is certainly a softness about us and a lack of resilience when we are put under a little bit of pressure.[LNB]"We have to show a bit more determination that, once we get ourselves in front, we are able to hold onto it."[LNB]Smith admitted the draw felt like a defeat after controlling the match for large spells.[LNB]He added: "We are disappointed by a situation that I don't think anybody who had watched the first hour of the match would have thought was a possibility.[LNB]"But, in a few minutes, we managed to undo one of our better home performances this season by a bit of slackness which left us in a situation where we had to react to a team pulling us back to 2-2 when, I think, their first real attempt at goal was in the 61st minute.[LNB]"It's disappointing when you are chasing a championship that you lose out on a winning position.[LNB]"There was a little bit of softness in our team overall in terms of allowing Hearts to get back into the game."[LNB]Rangers left the pitch to jeers from their own fans and Smith said: "As a manager over a period of time here, I made us difficult to beat and everybody said that was the wrong thing to do.[LNB]"If they are all sitting there this afternoon, they'll see that might be the right thing to do."[LNB]Hearts boss Csaba Laszlo was unhappy with his side's efforts in the first half but thrilled with the result which keeps them in prime position to finish 'best of the rest' behind the Old Firm.[LNB]He said: "If you see that your team plays this s**t like we did in the first half, you can just run out of the stadium and say 'It's Mother's Day tomorrow' and forget about football.[LNB]"But we are guys, we are at Ibrox, and we are still in third place.[LNB]"I wanted to kill some people in my dressing room at half-time but if I'd done that I would have had to go to jail and we wouldn't have got a point.[LNB]"The first half was very poor but the second half was very sexy."[LNB][LNB]
