Philippe Clement believes Rangers just "weren't good enough" as relegation-threatened Ross County shocked his title hopefuls.

Despite Rangers edging ahead after an error-stricken first half with Jack Baldwin's own goal, there were several indications that Clement's men could be on the receiving end of a historic moment.

Simon Murray and George Harmon's rebound strikes reversed the course of the game, while Josh Sims' close-range finish left the visitors struggling for solutions, despite James Tavernier's late penalty response.

Rangers, who had the opportunity to close the gap on Celtic in the Scottish Premiership table to just a point with a victory, were far from at their best and Rangers manager, Clement, admits that despite leading at the break, he warned his players of exactly what could come if they didn't improve their levels instantly. 

And ultimately, his words fell on deaf ears with Don Cowie's Staggies earning their first ever win over Rangers. 

Speaking at the final whistle, a dejected Clement said: "I'm very disappointed with our performance. The first half we didn't play well, not enough of the ball, I know circumstances are maybe not ideal to play really good football, but we can do much better. 

"Like we showed that the last half hour. That's what I missed today that first hour we missed this urgency to kill the game, to score goals, to not give anything away, and you do that first half by scoring and having a lead. 

"I warned them at half-time that I wanted to see more, and then we get two really early goals (against), and then we need to chase the game. So, it's a very disappointing afternoon for us."

READ MORE: Dundee vs Rangers back up option emerges as SPFL club 'agree' to host

A furious Light Blues boss continued: "It was not good enough today, simple. You give Ross County hope, you give them energy then the moment they start leading the game they throw their bodies in front of the goal.

"We were unlucky also with the ball hitting the crossbar and things like that. But we gave them energy so all credit to Ross County for the big heart they showed today." 

The loss means Rangers trail Celtic by four points in the race to be crowned champion of Scotland, but do have a game in hand against Dundee to follow on Wednesday. 

Clement concedes the preparation coming into this trip to the Highlands was far from ideal, since they were meant to play Dundee in midweek before it was controversially postponed for a second time. 

He claims that can't be used as a sole excuse, yet hinted the off-field distraction could've bounced onto the players and affected their performance. 

"We will continue what we've been doing and that's taking it game by game," the Belgian reiterated when asked how damaging the loss was for their title hopes.

"You throw away points today, we throw away these points but it's about the next couple of weeks and taking the points everywhere, it's about that. 

"Not only character but it's also about quality. Showing quality, it's not only by running all over the pitch and just doing something that we are going to win games. 

READ MORE: Michael Beale explains why Rangers are underdogs in final Old Firm

"We need to do what we've been doing well a lot of months, and because of that we've taken a lot of points. 

"I lost several things out of our normal game today and one of those was winning duels and being in a structure like we've been good. 

"Maybe, it was because we had a really, really, strange preparation this week, but it's not an excuse. 

"Everyone was more busy with things outside of football than football, in the club. So, that's also something to keep in mind. We need to just keep focused on the football at the moment.

"We expect more and they also expect more from ourselves."