'Not something he wants to hear' - Rangers star answers Allan McGregor question and laments 'disappointment'

James Tavernier lamented the “disappointment” of the Rangers performance in the Scottish Cup win over Partick Thistle which made it harder for the team to progress to the quarter-final.

The Ibrox side had to come from a goal behind at the interval to eke out a 3-2 win on what was a drama-filled afternoon in Govan. The club captain missed a penalty when the score was 1-1, while the home side had to allow the visitors to score after Malik Tillman had pounced on the ball when Thistle were set to give it back.

Tavernier spoke of the levels of consistency during games with Rangers prone to losing the first goal and used the performance in the 3-0 win at Hearts as an example of what the team need to strive for.

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“It’s probably more disappointment,” he said when asked if there was relief over the result. “We’re through to the next round but it’s the level of performance that’s really disappointing.

"I believe it’s down to the players. We’re all very good players and we know what the manager wants us to do but it’s about executing it on the pitch. We need to do that for 90 minutes because if we take the foot off the gas and get sloppy in our play we’re going to make it harder for ourselves. We’ve done that at times in the last few weeks – Hearts was a great example of that, we played well throughout the game.

"We’ve got to learn and deliver, we can’t continue to be like this. We’re getting the results we want in that sense but we know there’s still room for improvement.”

The clash with Thistle will be remembered for the Tillman goal and the response from Rangers manager Michael Beale to allow Tiffoney to equalise. Even if, at one point, it appeared Allan McGregor may try to stop him. Tavernier was asked, as captain, who it was he delegated to tell the goalkeeper to allow Thistle to score.

"It’s not something Allan wants to hear,” he said. “He’s a proud keeper who never wants to concede but it was the right thing to do. It’s Rangers football club and we’ve a high level of standards that we try to set every single day.”

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