By Rhys Livingstone

Danilo’s early goal, alongside Jack Butland’s crucial penalty stop earned Rangers a huge three points in a tight match in the capital.

At Easter Road it was the away side opened the scoring just five minutes in after capitalising on slack defending from Hibernian. Danilo provided a curled precise finish to give Danny Röhl’s side an early advantage.

Danilo scoring the only goal of the game {Getty Images}

The Brazilian is starting to look more like the player Rangers spent big money on, with two goals in his last two games putting him in a strong place to start Sunday’s derby. Arriving for around £5.5 million back in 2023 there were high expectations to hit the ground running quickly, but injuries and inconsistent performances meant fans hadn’t seen his real quality. Now, under Danny Röhl, he looks sharper and hungrier to perform. Neil McCann and Kris Boyd both described him as Rangers best finisher, and if he continues performing in front of goal, it will be hard to leave him out of the squad.

After the opener, Hibs grew into the match, but with a huge miss from striker Thibault Klidjé followed by Jamie McGrath's poor spot-kick which was awarded by referee John Beaton for a foul on Junior Hoilett. It just wasn’t to be on the night for the Hibees.

Jack Butland stopping Jamie Mcgrath’s penalty {Getty Images}

Despite late drama, Rangers managed to take the three points back to Glasgow and you could visibly see better organisation and strength implemented by the German head coach, which has now pushed them up to third in the table and only five points adrift from rivals Celtic.

Rangers are still so far off where they would like to be, but Danny Röhl has already made more of an impact than his forerunner Russell Martin managed in 123 days.

Rangers looked more like a team yesterday evening, and there has clearly been a change in energy and creativity. Players such as Connor Barron, Nasser Djiga, Jayden Meghoma, Danilo and Youssef Chermiti seemed more confident and comfortable in possession.

Röhl himself, wasn’t shy in making some bold changes as well, making five from the weekends victory over Stuart Kettlewell’s Kilmarnock side, which included captain James Tavernier and Rangers bright light this season Djeidi Gassama being left on the bench.

Although not being on the front foot all night and having luck on their side at times with the home side being so poor in the final third it was a first clean sheet in 25 away matches which should bring confidence to this Rangers side. A massive league cup semi-final awaits against Celtic and their 73-year-old interim boss Martin O'Neill.

After the match, Röhl said: “You feel it in the changing room at the moment. The players understand that we need this spirit to win games.

“This is a big part for me. What I really liked was at the end of the game, our supporters and players came closer.

“They recognise what we’re doing, and I think this is a great spirit to feel after just one week.”

Röhl’s comments, underline a growing sense of integration in the side. After a poor start to the season, he looks to have got a shift of momentum and togetherness from both players and supporters. A potential sign that the players are buying into his methods and the fans in the stand are too. With two wins in his first week as head coach, Röhl knows this is just the start, and with Celtic at Hampden on Sunday, it will be a real test of his character to keep building momentum.

Danilo the Hero in the Capital