Windass holds his hands up

GRAEME MURTY has revealed Josh Windass has apologised for his controversial goal celebration at Firhill — with the Rangers manager warning his player he must think before he acts in future.

The 24-year-old marred a fine opening strike in the 2-0 win over Partick Thistle on Tuesday by raising a finger to his lips in front of the visiting fans.

Clearly biting back at his critics among the Rangers support, the midfielder was asked to explain his actions during a debrief with Murty.

Insisting Windass had not fully considered the consequences of his actions by celebrating in such a way, Murty accepted his apology with the proviso that there is no repeat.

‘Josh apologised and once again it was a very Josh conversation in that he hasn’t thought too deeply about it,’ said Murty.

‘He didn’t think at the time it would be a major thing but he understands the bearing it has on his performance and reputation.

‘It’s not a considered action. It’s a reaction and a spur-of-themoment thing. It’s down to frustration with himself and his performance. He knows when he gets things wrong, he gets frustrated and so do fans.

‘What he’s trying to do all the time is do his best and he gets it wrong at times.

‘We understand that but he has to understand that his frustration must be channelled in a positive way.’

Windass last night broke his silence on the matter by insisting he had not meant anything by the gesture.

‘There was no real reason or malice in the celebration,’ he stated. ‘It was just a bit of instinct after I’d scored. It was just a little bit of frustration.

‘It was nothing to do with social media. It was just how I was playing in the game up to that point, I was a bit frustrated.

‘I’ve just reacted in maybe the wrong way, but it’s what happens sometimes in football. You just go for emotion.

‘I’d forgotten about it straight away, it’s just other people bringing it up to me. I’ll just let them talk about it and I’ll just concentrate on myself.

‘Since I’ve been here, I’ve just tried to do my best for this football club and I’ll continue to do that.’

The scorer of ten goals so far this season, Windass is in the squad to face Ayr United at Somerset Park tomorrow.

Asked if the player had unnecessarily brought additional pressure on himself as a consequence of his actions, Murty replied: ‘If he scores a goal on Sunday, if indeed I select him, and 6,500 Rangers fans go ‘Shhhhhh’ to him, would he just have to accept that? Yeah, he would.

‘It doesn’t put any more pressure on him. The only pressure he has is to learn.’

Windass joined Rangers on a pre-contract agreement from Accrington Stanley in 2016 and, despite frequently delivering for the Ibrox club, he has rarely had his critics to seek among the fan base.

Murty believes that, even at 24, the Englishman remains a work in progress and will have to accept criticism as part and parcel of the job for as long as he is making errors.

‘Josh is a really instinctive player,’ said Murty. ‘He plays in the moment.

‘He shows excellent qualities, qualities that we want to enhance and improve to help him reach his maximum potential.

‘There are times when he falls below that. It doesn’t tend to be a failure of technique or fitness. It tends to be a failure of decision-making or a little bit of game understanding.

‘When he makes decisions like that, you are scratching your head. You are trying to get into his head to figure out what he is thinking about.

‘He is still a very young man. So you accept that he is not going to get everything right.’

Bruno Alves took part in a full-scale training game this week but won’t feature in tomorrow’s Scottish Cup tie.