What's really riling Vaclav Cerny as Rangers winger snaps at reporter – but the look on his face tells whole story

The look on Vaclav Cerny’s ashen face said it all.

Pale, pallid, drained of colour, the Czech winger was dazed as he sat in the corner of a cramped Dens Park press room. He didn’t want to be there. Certainly not after a result like Rangers’ 1-1 draw with Dundee on Thursday night. Cerny was angry and agitated. Visibly fed-up at regularly having to speak after yet another dire away display from Philippe Clement’s side.

His mood was confirmed when he snapped back at one journalist for getting the pronunciation of his first name slightly wrong. But deep down, it wasn’t that which was irking Cerny. It was the fact that, just a week after battering Old Firm rivals Celtic in a 3-0 derby win at Ibrox, Clement’s men were now officially out of the Premiership title race. If they were ever really in it in the first place.

The dismal draw at Dens left Rangers 15 points behind Brendan Rodgers’ side, who have disappeared into the distance at the top. In 11 away games this term, it seems incredible that Cerny and Co. have only managed to win THREE of them.

Like his manager, he’s at a loss to try and explain how that’s happened – especially when going on their travels in Europe doesn’t seem to be an issue. What makes it worse for Cerny is that they KNOW they can compete with the runaway leaders on any given day.

They proved it in the League Cup Final at Hampden and that emphatic derby triumph just 10 days ago. That’s why the on-loan Wolfsburg wideman looked shell-shocked in midweek. He’s one of the few players in Clement’s squad who has performed to an acceptable level this season, bagging 11 goals in total. Cerny wasn’t at his best against Dundee. But he still managed to produce a moment as he hauled Clement’s team back into the game