Philippe Clement refused to reach for excuses after Rangers’ dismal 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock angered the club’s supporters and left them further behind in the Scottish Premiership title race. The top two, Celtic and Aberdeen, drew 2-2 on Saturday to offer Rangers encouragement in the title race, but Clement’s team failed miserably in their attempt to take advantage. Marley Watkins’s late strike gave Kilmarnock a shock home win on their artificial pitch and pushed Rangers six points behind both their title rivals. Despite having plenty of possession, there was a disjointed look to Rangers, whose fans held up protest banners in the second half, one of which said: “The mismanagement of Rangers must stop and stop now.” Other banners noted that the Ibrox club have no permanent chairman, chief executive officer, or director of football operations. Rangers improved little after the break and Kilmarnock struck in the 87th minute when Watkins broke through to beat the goalkeeper, Jack Butland, and earn his side a first home win of the season. Clement said of his Rangers side: “I don’t want excuses about pitches, winds, whatever. We need to focus on ourselves, on the players, on the new players coming in, to get them at their best level, focus on the players who were here, to get to their best level, and to play better than we did today. “I was not pleased with that game in the first half. The second half was much better, but then you get this goal against. In the end, if you win this game, which was possible in the second half, and you scored the goal, you can have a totally different feeling. But we didn’t do enough to get that feeling, so we need to learn from that and be stronger on Thursday and the Sunday after, and the weeks to come.” Asked about the fans’ unhappiness, the Belgian manager said: “It’s normal that they’re unhappy. There’s not one person on the staff or one player who was happy after this game, after losing. So that’s normal. The players showed respect towards the fans, the fans showed what they felt about the results, and that’s normal. “So it’s about getting back the results, that’s the main thing, and then the fans get behind you. I think the anger has to do with a lot of things. So I will be focused on the sporting side to get the best out of this squad. “We’re going to work really hard with this squad, and there is a lot of potential in this squad. Much more potential than people see maybe for the moment. So it’s about working hard with them and making them better.” Derek McInnes’s side climbed to seventh with their first home win of the season and the Kilmarnock manager was pleased with the way his players kept going for the winner. “It illustrates fitness and the strength of squad,” he said. “It also illustrates a lot of time and real determination. I don’t think any of my players at any point settled for 0-0. That wouldn’t have been the worst result. Getting a clean sheet and you would take positives from the performance. “Still, I felt and hoped it was a bit more on the bone for us. Thankfully, we managed to get that. I thought tactically we were good. But more important when you play Rangers and the Celtics, when they come here, it’s that mental part of it. I thought the mental strength of the team was good. They always felt there was something, a win there for us. Thankfully, we managed to see that through.” Kilmarnock, whose 3-2 win against Dundee last time out was their first domestic victory of the season, had good early chances, including when Matty Kennedy somehow missed a cross from left-back Corrie Ndaba right in front of the Rangers goal. The visitors were struggling to find any rhythm, but in the 18th minute the former Rangers goalkeeper Robby McCrorie made a good save from Vaclav Cerny’s long-range drive, a rare attempt on goal. In the 52nd minute Cyriel Dessers’s drive from 30 yards was tipped round a post by McCrorie for a corner from which the striker hit the bar. Leon Balogun and Nicolas Raskin replaced Robin Pröpper and Connor Barron and Rangers began pressing with more purpose, McCrorie making saves from James Tavernier and John Souttar, although in the 70th minute on a Kilmarnock break Kennedy tested Butland with a decent drive. There appeared to be cheers from the Rangers fans when Dessers was replaced moments later by Hamza Igamane. The game was in the balance until Watkins pounced, running on to a pass from the substitute David Watson and brushing past Souttar to send a shot bouncing past Butland. Igamane missed with an effort to equalise in the third of six added minutes.