Kris Boyd believes that Rangers may well have already blown their ‘golden opportunity’ to win the league title after the points they dropped against Ross County and Dundee, and that the Ibrox club may well look back upon those four days as the defining point of their season.

Philippe Clement’s men got back to winning ways on Sunday as a Cyriel Dessers’ double saw off Hearts and ensured that Rangers advanced to the Scottish Cup Final, where they could potentially win their second cup of the campaign if they can defeat Celtic. But while former Rangers striker Boyd welcomed that win, he doesn’t think that a domestic cup double would compensate for letting the league title slip through their fingers.

“I don’t think you can look at it that way,” Boyd said. “I’ve heard people saying recently ‘You’ve got to remember where Rangers were when Philippe Clement came in’. I don’t think you can have that mindset. You’ve got yourself back into a title race, you’ve got yourself in a place where you can win a title. It wasn’t to be at Ibrox a couple of weeks ago, but the two performances after that haven’t been good enough.

READ MORE: Philippe Clement update on John Lundstram's Rangers future

“You can’t go back to where the club was when Philippe Clement arrived. He’s here and they got themselves back in a title race which at this moment in time, looks like it’s probably going to end in a whimper. But when you look at the chance of winning two cups, some clubs get bogged down by winning cups but Rangers are going to be judged by winning titles.

“The fans have got themselves into a position where they could’ve won the league, but the last three games - people will say they got away with it the week of the Motherwell game because Celtic lost as well but I don’t look at it like that because it was a home game and an opportunity to get three points - Rangers could potentially have thrown a golden opportunity away. It’s not over, but it’s going to be very difficult. The last few weeks, you’re going to look back on that period and say it’s been the defining moment.

“Forget the start, the manager lost his job, Philippe Clement came in and transformed the club. But you can’t just look at it and say, ‘We’ve got ourselves into a title race’. You’ve got to go and win it.”

Meanwhile, Boyd thinks that Connor Goldson may well have a fight on his hands to get back into the Rangers side after being left out of the win over Hearts on Sunday, and he isn’t buying manager Clement’s claim that the centre back was ‘rested’ for the match.

Goldson has come under fire of late after some of his recent performances, with replacement Leon Balogun helping Rangers to a clean sheet at the weekend.

“I don’t think that anybody is safe anyway, and that should be the case at big football clubs,” he said. "I don’t think you should have your place guaranteed. Listening to what he has said over the last few weeks, you kind of got the feeling that it might have happened beforehand. I get the fact that he has said he has rested him, that’s the cliché in football, isn’t it? I’m not quite buying it.

READ MORE: Clement pleased with Rangers rhythm after moving step closer to treble with cup win

“For whatever reason, Philippe Clement has decided to change the backline, and I’ve got to say, I didn’t think the gaps were as big on Sunday. I know that Hearts with Lawrence Shankland, he’s a fantastic goalscorer and it’s a cheek coming from me, but he’s not really going to run away from anybody.

“Rangers were able to squeeze the game and nullify Hearts’ threat in between midfield and defence. Whether Leon Balogun was a big help in that remains to be seen, but you’ve got to say that he did himself no harm for going forward, and it will be interesting to see what happens come the weekend.”

*Kris Boyd was speaking at The Kris Boyd Charity Golf Day Trump Turnberry. Kris has been raising awareness of Mental Health and funds to help people in need for seven years.