This piece is an extract from yesterday's Rangers Insider newsletter, which is emailed out at 5pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Rangers Review team.

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When the full-time whistle sounded at Parkhead on Saturday afternoon, Rangers' faintest of title hopes were extinguished.

The 3-2 reverse leaves Michael Beale’s men trailing their arch-rivals by 12 points with just seven league games remaining.

Attention is now firmly focused on getting the better of Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final at the end of the month but of the remaining Premiership fixtures, now is the time to experiment and provide opportunities to those who’ve been watching from the sidelines of late.

One such player who looks set to benefit is Robby McCrorie. Speaking prior to the Dundee United game at the beginning of April, Beale promised the 25-year-old game time. “Young Robby has been injured pretty much the majority of my time here,” he said.

“He played in a behind-closed-doors game on Wednesday and that was his first game since prior to Christmas, probably December, November time.

“So when Robby's ready, I'll be giving him an opportunity to see if he can stake a claim to be a starting goalie here moving forward in the future.”

With St Mirren the visitors to Ibrox on Saturday followed by a trip to Pittodrie before the Old Firm semi-final, it remains to be seen if the Rangers manager will tinker with his goalkeeper. Whatever happens at Hampden, McCrorie must be afforded an opportunity for some, if not all of the five games post-split.

With Allan McGregor's time at Ibrox surely coming to an end, it's important to determine if McCrorie has the potential to replace the 41-year-old. The only way we'll find out is during matches.

Aside from McCrorie, others who should now come into the reckoning include the likes of Ridvan Yilmaz, Ianis Hagi and Alex Lowry.

Having warmed the bench in recent weeks, the former Besiktas man must be bedded into the side.

As much as Borna Barisic has been one of Rangers’ better performers this season, the club cannot afford to have a pricey talent watching from afar.

Barisic, himself, is one of many players reaching an Ibrox crossroads in the summer as he prepares to enter the final year of his contract. The club need to make a call on whether they intend to offer the Croatian an extension, allow him to run down his current deal or look for a buyer.

Whatever happens, Ridvan represents the future and the more exposure to Scottish football he can get from now until the start of next season the better.

Hagi is another who has struggled for minutes since recovering from a long-term knee injury. Of the fleeting appearances he has made, the Romanian has looked every inch a player lacking match sharpness.

With nothing left to play for in the league but pride, there is no reason why Hagi should not be featuring more prominently. His long-term future is unclear despite signing a contract extension in December given the competition for places and the likelihood that Malik Tillman will be joining permanently from Bayern Munich.

It remains to be seen if he will form part of Beale’s new-look Rangers next season but a run of games from here on in could go a long way to determining that. 

Alex Lowry has shared Hagi’s first-team frustrations with his time on the pitch limited this term under both Beale and his predecessor Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

The teenager has endured a tough year both on and off the pitch with an injury sustained following a horror challenge from Dumbarton’s Ally Love while starring for the B Team as well as subsequent niggling injuries coupled with the tragic passing of his mother in recent weeks.

There have also been question marks over his application and whether he is deserving of a first-team opportunity

“He can learn from training every day with people like Arfield, who has played in the Premier League, from Tillman, from Cantwell, from Ianis Hagi," Beale said on the topic in January. 

"If he takes the best bits of those players and stays that lovely innocent self in terms of when he’s got the ball he’s got a chance of being a really important player for this club in the future.

“Alex has some parts of his game that are excellent and some that a 19-year-old needs to work on. I don’t think the Lowland League prepares players to play for Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership and fighting for cups and playing in Europe.

“If he can’t get on the pitch he needs to go play at a good level for the next period to prove he can play for Rangers.

“The hot air can help a young player but it can also set him up to fail.”

Rangers Review:

Like Hagi, Lowry’s Rangers future is very much up in the air. Game time between now and the end of the campaign could tell us if he is capable of playing consistently and producing.

It could be that a loan move in the summer will benefit the 19-year-old’s development because as Beale has rightly stated, the leap from the Lowland League to performing for Rangers is enormous.

Lowry and Leon King are too good to be performing in the fifth tier of Scottish football but are still somewhat short of what is required to become permanent fixtures in the first-team squad.

As much as the summer can’t come quick enough, the remaining fixtures will give us an indication as to who can be relied upon moving forwards.

The players mentioned must be given an opportunity to show if they are good enough to be considered part of the forthcoming rebuild.