If there was any sense that Rangers could be quickly transformed from domestic torpor in the Michael Beale era, the notion was banished within 15 minutes at a deathly cold Ibrox.

The icy stillness looked to have frozen John Lundstram and James Sands stiff as they were traversed with ease by Hibs players. It was a first half that looked as if it could realistically end up at any scoreline such was its madcap back and forth.

Beale may be happy with much of what he saw in the end up - character, skill and determination were there all right - but he told of "red flags" in the Ibrox press room at the weekend and surely they were here once again in abundance. And such that everyone, even with comparatively untrained eyes, could see.

The visitors' first goal for Ryan Porteous was a systemic failure with Hibs' biggest aerial threat arriving on the edge of the six-yard box unmarked to thump home a header. Replays showed Lundstram, Malik Tillman and James Tavernier marking air. Only the manager will know who was supposed to be keeping a close watch on the Scotland defender but none covered themselves in glory. 

While Fashion Sakala's direct running and ruthless finish soon brought parity, it was only to last 53 seconds. Straight from the kick-off, a lofted pass was floated aimlessly towards Kevin Nisbet. Tillman tried to cut it out but only managed to divert the ball closer to the menacing forward. It looked like schoolboy defending. In truth, there was little the defenders could do, such was the vicious change in trajectory. Nisbet finished brilliantly and suddenly Ibrox was again silenced.

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The Leith side seemed far from finished. Soon Allan McGregor was forced to make a decisive stop with his feet after Lundstrum had lost a duel with Nisbet and his strike partner Elie Youan was sent through on goal.

Hibs were the better side as the half time whistle rang out but there had been enough green shoots in the attacking play to suggest there could be a turnaround. And so it proved. Rangers were much the better side in the second period, getting to grips with their defensive issues and dominating the game.

At the heart of it all, as he was last week against Leverkusen, was the American loanee Malik Tillman. It's understood that upon arriving Michael Beale couldn't wait to get on the training pitch with the attacking midfielder and was excited by his skillset.

"We’re going to give him the freedom to run out of that midfield and into the positions he was in today. We have to let Malik go and make the game and make the team. In football you have ideas but players dictate and I have to allow these players to go and express themselves. Malik is a fantastic talent and we’re lucky to have him here in Scotland." he gushed at the weekend.

It was certainly a prescient observation and one that the 20-year-old lived up to. He was a danger throughout with countless lovely touches, passes and runs. For a big, powerful man, he's gifted with extremely quick feet that allow him to evade trouble in even the most trying of circumstances.

And it was this unusual combination of power and grace that was to prove the difference. He made Ryan Jack's equaliser with a front-post header that left the midfielder with the simplest of tasks. It was reminiscent of the role Joe Aribo executed with great success in the Steven Gerrard era. That's two goals from set-pieces in as many games for Beale, the first tangible improvement on the Giovanni van Bronckhorst era.

A second assist was much more intricate as he shifted weight from right to left in a nanosecond, bamboozling Paul Hanlon and allowing Tillman the space to square to Alfredo Morelos who wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The Colombian wheeled off to take the acclaim of the crowd with his usual combination of self-righteous anger and joy but it was the younger man who should know he was the true difference maker. Morelos accepted the applause but eventually turned to seek out the man whose quality made it possible. You get the feeling it's a scene that will repeat itself in the weeks and months ahead.