'Why it was right thing to do' - Rangers boss Michael Beale on controversial goal, VAR and ‘lousy’ performance

Rangers boss Michael Beale explained why he thought allowing Partick Thistle to equalise after Malik Tillman’s controversial goal was the “right thing to do”.

The American nicked the ball from Kevin Holt before the Jags defender could kick the ball back to the home side. He ran through and put the Ibrox side 2-1 in front. It was decided by Beale that Thistle, through Scott Tiffoney, could equalise. Rangers would eventually run out 3-2 winners. The decision didn’t go down well with the supporters who booed the incident.

"He is completely unaware of the situation, of what has happened,” Beale said. “I had to speak to my bench to make sure that is what they saw as well. Malik came over and I spoke to him and he confirmed it. So it was the right thing to do.

"I will tell you why it was the right thing to do. Malik Tillman is a fantastic young player and I don't want that hanging around his head. He has never cheated anyone in his life and as a football club we have high standards. We don't need to do that to beat Partick Thistle at home. It was a complete misunderstanding and not in fitting with the way the game was played and played afterwards.

"There were three or four close to me so obviously we just explained to them to stand to one side. It is not an easy thing to ask footballers to do because they haven't seen it but it was the right thing to do.

"For everything I want to stand for as a club and what I want to stand for and also for protecting a fantastic young player from having something thrown at him which I won't allow.

“Yes it could have been risky but we don’t want to win like that. We don’t want to earn anything we aren’t due as a club or what we have earned on the park."

‘First 11 were lousy’

Rangers manager Michael Beale decided to allow Partick Thistle to score after a controversial Malik Tillman goal. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Beale, who said the penalty decision against Rangers was “difficult” but “it is the law", revealed there will be a “chat during the week because the performance wasn’t good enough” while taking on some of the blame.

“I think today might be on me a little bit,” he said. “It was me who played the team that started and maybe I was a bit too optimistic with the team I put out. I trust them, we had a lot of internationals in the team but I think since I have come in the consistency has helped us get results.

“Maybe I need to look at myself. You give opportunities and you hope they come together and perform but we didn’t first half. Ianis was a bit rusty but he would only be able to play 50 or 60 minutes. He needs game time to get back to what he is. I didn’t think there would be much space so Ianis and Todd Cantwell could be creative around Tony.

“At half time we had to go a bit more direct and be more urgent so we made the changes. I thought the first 11 were lousy and those two were the casualties. Kemar Roofe and Ryan Kent came on and gave us something different and that’s what’s good about having a strong squad.”