EMERSON Hyndman last night heaped praise on the worked carried out by Graeme Murty since the Rangers under-20 coach took charge of the first team at Ibrox last month.
Stewart Robertson, the Rangers managing director, has revealed the Ladbrokes Premiership club are “very close” to appointing a replacement for Mark Warburton as manager.
The William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final match against Hamilton Academical at Ibrox tomorrow, then, could be the last Rangers game that interim boss Murty oversees.
Read more: Exclusive: Waiting game continues as Rangers close in on Ross Wilson and Pedro Caixinha
Hyndman, the Bournemouth midfielder who is on loan in Glasgow until the end of the season, believes he should be proud of the job he has done in the last three weeks.
The American netted a stunning injury-time goal to secure a 3-2 victory over St. Johnstone at Ibrox and give the former Scotland internationalist his first league win.
The 20-year-old feels the former Reading defender deserves credit for the result after consecutive defeats to Dundee and Inverness Caledonian Thistle away.
“I've had experiences similar to this, said Hyndman. “I'm quite young, but I've had it before. It's never easy when a manager leaves, but the group's backed Graeme well since he came in.
“I think he's done himself justice since he's come in, getting behind us and really letting us know what he wants us to do. It was just nice to repay him.
Read more: Exclusive: Waiting game continues as Rangers close in on Ross Wilson and Pedro Caixinha
“He's been brilliant. It's always a tough position as a kind of interim manager. Especially with the way things have gone.
“I credit him for coming in and establishing what he wants us to do. I think the boys got behind him quite well.
“The results didn't really show what he was doing and how good he was, but I think on Wednesday night it was nice to give him that feeling.”
He added: “Everyone chips in, they have to in this situation. Recent results haven't been great – but everybody takes responsibility for that.
“We analyse and work at the training ground all the time and really make sure we're ready going into the next games. I think really, it's just keep the mentality right.”
The triumph over St. Johnstone moved Rangers to within six points of second-placed Aberdeen as well as eight points clear of Hearts and nine points ahead of St. Johnstone.
Asked if finishing runners-up behind Celtic was still a realistic objective, Hyndman said: “Of course it is.
“We saw the Aberdeen result the other night (they lost to Hamilton on Tuesday), but we're just focussed on ourselves at the same time.
Read more: Exclusive: Waiting game continues as Rangers close in on Ross Wilson and Pedro Caixinha
“We need to get ourselves right and I think we took our first step on Wednesday night. It was about the three points, it wasn't about how we got it.
“After the recent results we've had it was very important we got three points on the board and thankfully we did that.
“It was a good feeling to score. We've had a tough time recently with results. It was fully deserved in terms of our performance from the start. It got a little rough towards the end but we pulled through. I'm just happy to see all the fans happy at the end.”
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