Tavernier insists Rangers cannot dwell on Well defeat as focus turns to Europe
Tavernier insists Rangers cannot afford to linger on Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Motherwell as attention turns to the Europa League this week.
The Rangers skipper scored his 21st goal of the season with a penalty to level a first-half opener by Theo Bair at Ibrox but Well defender Dan Casey headed in a winner in the 74th minute to give the impressive visitors their first cinch Premiership win at Ibrox since 1997.
It was the Light Blues’ first defeat of the year but they were given a title race reprieve when Celtic’s 2-0 defeat against Hearts at Tynecastle yesterday kept the champions trailing their Old Firm rivals by two points at the top of the table.
Rangerswillparkleagueconcerns to prepare for the firstleg of their Europa League last16 tie against Benfica in Lisbon on Thursday night and Tavernier believes they have to move on from the weekend wobble.
The full-back told Rangerstv: “We can’t dwell on it too long. We’ve got a really important Europa League game in midweek.
“We can’t dwell on it. We will analyse it and then move on.
“Disappointed but plenty of games to play. We’ve been in a good place before this so we just need to get back to that.
“Looking at our defending and how we started the game we were not really on the front foot, we let them get into the game with a goal and we made it an uphill battle.
“But we still asked questions and we obviously tried to fight until the end but just disappointed that we conceded two goals and didn’t get the three points. But there’s nine games to play and we’ll just fight all the way to the end.”
Itwasthefirstpointsdropped at home by Rangers manager Philippe Clement since taking over from Michael Beale in October and he is expecting a positive reaction.
Clement said: “That’s the interesting thing now. I didn’t expect to have this moment after five months in the building. I thought it would be much earlier.
“Now I’ll get to know my team even better. I know them really well already. But now I’m going to see who’s going to be the guys to stand up after a disappointment.
“I don’t doubt it too much. They are very disappointed and a lot of heads are down. I’m disappointed too, not to get the three points.
“But you need to cope with it, take the right lessons and learn from it to become better. That’s our ambition now.”
Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell told the club’s official website how proud he was of his players’ application before leaving with a landjames
mark result. He said: “I believe I am a really humble person but I put great demands on my players.
“I thanked them for their efforts, I thanked them for how they performed because you sometimes take that as a given. They give me everything every single day.
“They are probably the most honest group of players I have ever worked with and every mistake they make is an honest mistake.
“Sometimes that brings frustration for the supporters, myself, the staff but I think you have to tip your cap to them.”