Rangers boss left frustrated

Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha was left frustrated by his side’s defensive mistake as they had to come back from 2-1 down to get a draw against Partick Thistle.

Rangers had taken the lead through Alfredo Morelos in the first half before two goals in ten minutes put the hosts in front.

Graham Dorrans’ strike saved the Gers a point but Caixinha felt his team should have controlled the game better, telling RangersTV: “I think the effort from the boys was great and we tried to fight for the game from the beginning to the end.

“The control of the pace and with that, the control the game is the point that I didn’t like. We started with a great goal from Morelos, and we made poor decisions in the last third – and that cost us a little bit of the game in the first half as it was really pacey because of that.”

A win for the Gers would have taken them level with Celtic ahead of next weekend’s Old Firm game but Caxinha was left to rue two defensive mistakes, saying: “We tried to reorganise the team for the second half, and we committed two mistakes defensively. We lost a duel we should not have lost on the first ball, it got to another duel on the edge of the box and we committed fault. We then opened the wall and that was it for the equaliser.

The two sides meet again on Tuesday night in the Betfred Cup quarter-final and Caixinha will be hoping to get one over on Alan Archibald as he tries to lift his first trophy as Rangers manager.

With just four days between the two games, Caixinha wants his side to quickly lift themselves and earn a place in the last-four draw on Thursday night, adding: “We need to keep going, we are here again on Tuesday and it is a knockout game. We want to be in the semi-finals and I am always thinking positively and looking forward.”