Mckay sparks Rangers into life
Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha praised Barrie Mckay for reaching the standards he is determined to set at the Ibrox club after the winger stepped off the bench at Firhill to spark a victory that takes them back into Europe after a six-year absence, writes Stephen Halliday.
With Rangers trailing 1-0 to Partick Thistle, Mckay equalised before Joe Garner netted a 94th-minute winner. It means Caixinha will lead Rangers into the Europa League
next season. Mckay has not started a match for Rangers since he was substituted at half-time by Caixinha during a 2-0 win over Thistle at Ibrox in mid-april. The 22-year-old has a year left on his contract and turned down a new deal earlier this season when Mark Warburton was in charge.
Caixinha plans to clarify the future of his current squad members this week and expressed his satisfaction at Mckay’s contribution to yesterday’s game.
“I am always pleased when guys bring their quality and commitment on to the pitch,” said Caixinha. “I’m very happy with Barrie and all the guys who performed like Barrie. It is a question of standards and that is what we are looking for.” Rangers were booed off at half-time by their support at Firhill but Caixinha was gratified by their overall response after experiencing consecutive defeats against Celtic.
“Today was really important for us to show a reaction,” he added. “We showed it in the second half and I need to be happy with that. We needed to change the course of the game and we managed it.
“The performance was disorientated. My passion and dedication to this sport is that I would rather die trying it rather than be alive to see what happens.thatiswhattheplayers did. We tried to change the formation in order to change the style of play. We took the risks, the players understood them and we were rewarded. I really like the way they understood and were committed.
“Therewerealotofmoments I really felt the passion from the players. If we were not together as a group I don’t think the players would celebrate like that at the end. The season is not finished and we need to keep focused for the last three matches.”
Thistle boss Alan Archibald was left to digest a second late home defeat against Rangers this season, his team having also led 1-0 in November before conceding two late goals. “It was brutal, to be honest. It’s hard to take,” said Archibald. “We thought we had got rid of this Achilles heel of losing late goals but obviously not. We turned it around after Christmas but now it has started to creep in again.”