TAVERNIER BUOYED BY KEEPING HOME HEROES IN THE SHADE

ONE year ago today, Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair scored the goals that saw Celtic sign off 2016 with a Hogmanay win at Ibrox. With nine goals between them, the Brendan Rodgers-signed duo were the star turns of a season in which Celtic romped to victory in five of the six Old Firm derbies.

James Tavernier concedes he became heartsick of watching the duo terrorise his team, so it’s little wonder that the sight of each being substituted in turn by a frustrated Rodgers should have given Rangers such a psychological lift at Parkhead yesterday.

For full-back Tavernier, there was personal satisfaction to be taken from seeing his direct opponent Sinclair being hooked after a lacklustre showing ill-befitting the country’s reigning Player of the Year. Even before that, there was encouragement to be drawn from the sight of Dembele — rated at anything between £18-30million — being summoned to the touchline in favour of Leigh Griffiths.

‘Dembele and Sinclair are two big players for Celtic,’ said Tavernier after the conclusion of the 0-0 draw. ‘They both did well against us last season, so that was a little psychological boost for us to see them going off.

‘It’s a good feeling when players like that are subbed. Our lads did well against all of their best players.’

Tavernier came as close as any player to scoring in this stalemate but was denied by one of two first-class saves from Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

If the one-handed tip-over that denied Tavernier was impressive, the instinctive leg thrown out by the keeper to deny Alfredo Morelos’s point-blank header was simply stunning.

‘We feel we should have three points,’ continued Tavernier. ‘We created some really good chances in the second half but Craig Gordon pulled off some terrific saves to leave us disappointed.

‘I thought I’d scored with the volley. I got into the box and just tried to get a good connection on it. I was devastated it didn’t go in but it was a great save from Craig — he had two of them today.

‘Strikers will always miss chances. When we came here last time, Waggy (Martyn Waghorn) had the two opportunities. Alfredo is a good lad, he’ll move forward from it. He’s banged in a lot of goals for us and he’s the type who will get over it.

‘We got a point, we didn’t lose the game. We came off the pitch disappointed but really proud at keeping a clean sheet and having some great spells in the game.’

Although it was Rangers who came on strongest late in the game, Celtic had the upper hand before the interval, with Sinclair and Dembele both spurning chances to establish a lead.

The Rangers players reacted at the interval, with boss Graeme Murty allowing his charges to let off steam as views were exchanged with some force in the changing room.

‘I was doing a lot of the shouting at half-time and a few other boys were at it too,’ admitted Tavernier. ‘We’re setting good standards and we want to keep them.

‘We all want the best for each other at Rangers and we have to demand the best from each other to drive us on. That’s healthy.’

Aside from seeing Celtic’s star duo depart so unceremoniously, Tavernier revealed that Rangers also drew encouragement from the loudening grumbles emanating from the home stands.

Used to performing in front of a tough crowd at Ibrox, Tavernier admitted he enjoyed seeing the opposition suffer some heckling.

‘Hearing their fans get frustrated was music to our ears, that’s always great to hear,’ he added. ‘When we’re at Ibrox teams are laughing when our fans get on to us.

‘We definitely feel we could have won it. That was a big benchmark today and we can’t drop from it now. We’ve got to keep pushing on, we can’t let that slip.

‘To drop from the level of performance we showed today would be criminal from us.’

That sentiment was echoed by Murty, who has also presided over stirring away victories at Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibernian since taking over from Pedro Caixinha earlier in the season.

The former Reading captain admits his team needs to address the consistency issues that have repeatedly arisen against teams in the lower half of the Premiership if they are to push on after the winter recess and narrow the gap to the league leaders.

‘We have shown at Pittodrie, Murrayfield and Easter Road that we can step up to a level that can cause anyone problems,’ said the manager, who has been given the job until the end of the season. ‘Our job and task collectively is to ensure that is our minimum standard.

‘If we do that, then we are on a really good path to improving our lot and making sure that we do close the gap.

‘Look at their bench and the fact they can buy a £4.5m sub in Olivier Ntcham and Leigh Griffiths, too. They have really deep pockets, lots of resources and we have to show that we can close the gap by being great at what we do. I thought we did that today.’

Rangers’ performance was all the more impressive for the fact the team lost its captain and defensive leader Bruno Alves to injury early in the first half.

Youngster David Bates was forced into service alongside Danny Wilson and the pair were solid in repelling Celtic’s advances.

‘The players know I trust them all,’ said Murty. ‘I have sat here in worse surroundings after worse results and said the same.

‘So when you have to throw someone like David Bates on, you know he is not going to let you down. He will give you everything he has.

‘Bruno is in a lot of pain. He is on crutches at the moment, wearing a boot. It is far too soon to assess but he is in a lot of discomfort.’

After a week off, Murty will take

I thought I’d scored with the volley. I was devastated it didn’t go in. It was a great save by Craig

his players to Florida for some winter sun before the team returns to compete in the Scottish Cup later in January.

He added: ‘We have to use this to move forward. If we do, this game will have served a good purpose beyond just getting a point.

‘The guys in the changing room are a little frustrated. Initially, I thought Alfredo had missed his header but it was a really good save.

‘Craig got his position sorted really well and he has a habit of doing that against us. But for him, we could have won the game earlier in the year when I was in charge.

‘I’m really proud of the way the players approached the game and withstood a really harsh challenge. They gave me a top-notch level of concentration, focus and intensity. We have to use that as fuel to move us forward from here.’