Tavernier pays tribute to winning response

James Tavernier praised the way Rangers bounced back from Saturday’s setback against Hibernian to beat Partick Thistle.

Rangers could have turned up the heat on leaders Celtic after the Hoops’ slip up at Kilmarnock on Saturday had they secured victories over Neil Lennon’s men and the Jags.

But instead they found themselves turning up at the Energy Check Stadium on Tuesday trailing second-place Aberdeen by six points after losing 2-1 at home to the Easter Road men over the weekend.

Yet Graeme Murty’s men did not allow that disappointment to affect them too much as they hit back with a 2-0 win over Thistle to cut the Dons’ deficit back to three.

Full-back Tavernier – whose late push on Scott Allan handed Jamie Maclaren the chance to seal Hibs’ win from the penalty spot – made amends for that by sealing the Firhill win with a stunning second-half finish.

Josh Windass put Rangers in front six minutes before the break but the visitors had the upright to thank for keeping out a Connor Sammon strike moments later.

“I’m really happy with the goal,” said Tavernier. “I’m probably more disappointed with the chance I had just beforehand when I was inside the box. But I’m just delighted to score and also with the response from the boys.

“We wanted to get back to winning ways after Saturday’s disappointment. We had to get the three points after slipping up against Hibs. “We had to ride out the storm when Thistle were on top of us and obviously the post helped us.

“But when Josh got that first goal it relieved a bit of pressure and I thought we played some good football in the second half.”