FIRHILL FOR SPILLS
Pedro’s agony as Gers miss chance to go top and skipper Lee is Old Firm doubt
PEDRO CAIXINHA admits he feared for Rangers when they struggled to show a ruthless streak against Partick Thistle.
Now he has ordered his men to sharpen up their act after they failed to make it three wins in a row for the first time since he became boss.
The Light Blues blew the chance to go level
on points at the top with Celtic and Aberdeen when they toiled to see off 10-man Jags at the Energy Check Stadium at Firhill.
To add to Ibrox woes, skipper Lee Wallace has a race against time to face Celtic after hobbling off after just 12 minutes with a recurrence of his groin injury.
They now face the prospect of going into next weekend’s Old Firm clash at Ibrox five points behind their arch rivals if the reigning champs see off Ross County this afternoon.
Alfredo Morelos grabbed his eighth goal of the season but Rangers passed up a string of chances to put the game out of sight before Thistle stunned them with two goals early in the second half.
In the end, it took a stunning strike from Graham Dorrans to rescue a point after Alan Archibald’s side played out the final quarter of the match with 10 men after Chris Erskine was red carded for a late lunge on the Colombian front man.
Caixinha said: “When we scored with 15 minutes to go I had the idea we would push on for the win. However, during the first half when we had such clear chances to go and kill the game and didn’t take them, I had a feeling it was going to cost us.
“We committed two mistakes that led to the opponents goals. For the first, we lost a duel on the halfway line and another duel on the edge of the box.
“We need to avoid those type of things that give the momentum and confidence to the opponents.
“For the second, the full-back should have defended from the inside. He didn’t and let the ball pass him by and from there it was an easy cross.”
Caixinha’s side have kept just one clean sheet in six league games all season, a goalless draw against Hearts at Ibrox earlier this month.
He said: “It is a frustration, not so much in this game but more the last one against Dundee.
“I’ve told the boys that it doesn’t matter if you are winning by four goals, you need to play the game until the end. We have a goal difference of five but still a 2.2 average of goals scored which is very good.
“Everything from 1.5 up is good and that means you should be up top of the league.
“The problem is we’ve been conceding an average of 1.2 goals before this match and it needs to be below one. I’m not too concerned about it but I’m working in that direction.
“Overall, it was a missed chance for us to combine three wins in a row, that was our objective when we came here. We deserved more than we got, we did enough to win that football match.”
Wallace hobbled off early and was replaced by Declan John, who made his debut following his recent season long loan move from Cardiff. Caixinha said: “Lee has been feeling something on the groin since his recent surgery. It’s a question of balance.
“He felt his groin again so we had to make the substitution early on in the game.
“Declan did okay and now we have options but I’ll need to evaluate the situation with the doctors. It is premature to talk about the fitness position of Lee.”
Jags boss Archibald watched his side claim their second point
in a week as they slowly find their form after an unsteady start to their Premiership campaign. He had no qualms about the red card shown to Erskine, who put his side 2-1 in front only to catch Morelos late with a bad tackle on the halfway line. Archibald said: “It was a red card, I’ve no complaints. Chris hasn’t got a bad bone in his body – he can’t tackle, he has never been able to tackle. “We have lost a few late goals recently so holding on in the end was great for the lads as it gives them a bit more confidence and belief, especially with 10 men. “We defended our box really well. It took a quality goal to make it 2-2. I didn’t think they worked our goalie too much. But if you let Dorrans step in and have time, he has the quality to hurt you.”