PEDRO’S HORROR SHOW
Ibrox old boy Burke pops up to pile more pressure on hapless Caixinha
PEDRO CAIXINHA last night stated he had no intention of walking away from a Rangers side now sitting fourth in the Premiership table after a damaging late draw with Kilmarnock.
On a night of extraordinary drama at Ibrox, Caixinha’s side conspired to throw away a one-goal lead in stoppage time and now sit beneath Motherwell in the league.
Requiring a resounding win to answer his critics after losing to the Steelmen in Sunday’s Betfred Cup semi-final, Caixinha’s men were leading through Jason Holt’s first-half strike as Daniel Candeias prepared to take a 90th-minute
penalty. Jamie MacDonald saved the winger’s effort, though, and 60 seconds later former Rangers player Chris Burke levelled to earn a point for Killie in Steve Clarke’s first game in charge. Ryan Jack was sent off by referee Alan Muir for flooring Kirk Broadfoot as Candeias waited to take the penalty, on the say-so of fourth official Scott Millar. Asked bluntly if he felt he was still the right man to take Rangers forward, Caixinha replied: ‘Yes, I am. I’m just worried about getting down to work in the morning and to do my very best. ‘I’ll keep looking forward as usual. I say to the fans that they are the most loyal in the world. They don’t deserve to pass through this situation. ‘As I’ve told you all the time, we work for them and I’m more disappointed for them. Because besides being the Rangers manager I’m also a Rangers fan. I’m blue inside. ‘When I come to represent one club, I represent it with everything that I have to give. With my passion, my knowledge and my work. ‘As you see I’m double disappointed as I’m a fan and the manager at the same time. But I’m strong enough to take this thing forward and always look to put things into the right place.’ Despite failing to get the win that would have eased the pressure on him, Caixinha was adamant there were elements of the display that pleased him. ‘We have to analyse the game overall and we asked the boys to show a good reaction,’ he added. ‘The boys tried to do that, especially in the first half. ‘We had to make the early change with Graham Dorrans. After that, the midfield and our arrival in the box was totally different. ‘We had another chance with Eduardo Herrera at the start of the second half but after that we couldn’t control the game. ‘If you aren’t playing well, you at least need to do that. ‘There were a few mistakes that led to Kilmarnock getting in the game again. ‘They got more confident but then we thought everything was finished and done with the penalty. But football is sometimes very cruel. ‘That’s how it was. It’s not every day you win a penalty, miss a penalty and then lose a goal.’ Jack was sent packing for the third time in 13 games for knocking Broadfoot to the floor. But Caixinha was reluctant to castigate his player before seeing TV replays. ‘I didn’t see it,’ he said. ‘I was focused on Daniel before he took the penalty so I didn’t see it. I’d need to check it. Once I see what really happened, I will have the chance to discuss it.’ Kilmarnock boss Clarke praised his players for refusing to give up even when it looked like it wasn’t going to be their night. ‘I was pleased with the team and I thought we thoroughly deserved the point,’ he said. ‘It would have been very difficult to go in and speak to the players if we hadn’t got anything out of it. ‘The last five minutes was a bit crazy but we capitalised on that when there was maybe a bit of turmoil. We kept our focus and Jamie redeemed himself and saved the penalty then we broke quickly and got the equaliser that we deserved.’ Praising the standout performance of keeper MacDonald, Clarke continued: ‘You have always got that bit of hope that your goalkeeper can save it so that is what we were hoping at the time. ‘I knew there was a bit of injury time to be played and it worked out for us.’ Clarke felt that Jack’s dismissal after the intervention of fourth official Millar appeared to be justified. ‘It looked like he moved his head towards Kirk,’ added Clarke. ‘If that is the case then it is a red card. I am not really sure what the confusion was. ‘There was a lot of confusion and I think the fourth official maybe pointed out that when he was brandishing the yellow cards he forgot to brandish a red one. But I don’t know that for a fact.’