James Tavernier has said he’s being ‘battered’ in the dressing room following his goal against Partick Thistle, but he’s loving it.
Heading to Firfill for last night’s game, Rangers took the lead through Josh Windass but Tavernier’s second strike certainly took the plaudits on the day and having added a sixth for the season in 2017/18, having already beaten John Greig’s goal scoring record for a full back, he wouldn’t mind having another crack at setting a new record.
Reflecting on the strike as he spoke to the Official Site, Tavernier admitted he was enjoying the banter in the dressing room with team mates asking ‘how’ he’d managed that, but he was also delighted to have made up for missing an earlier chance.
‘I am getting battered in the dressing room from the lads saying how did you score that? I thought there was some dip to it – I enjoyed it! I don`t know how I`d rate that amongst my Rangers goals but I was probably more disappointed that I couldn`t convert the chance I had before when Murph (Jamie Murphy) cut us inside.’
He went on to say.
‘My goal was maybe better but I thought the play before the other chance was decent. I am happy with the goal and happy with the clean sheet. My first thought was to shoot and I saw a little opportunity where I could hit it and it went in so happy days. I`m not doing too bad but I am capable of those goals, I got 15 my first season here so I am on the right track. Could I get close to that again? Never say never, we have plenty of games left for me to score more.’
Speaking more about the game itself, he admitted the whole group weren’t happy with their first half display especially as the aim had been to make up for Hibernian.
‘I thought first-half we were disappointed with ourselves, we gave them a lot of chances, we let them build their confidence and we got saved by the post once. I thought second half we were much better and we moved the ball better, I thought we were clinical. It is always key to get the first goal and we`re just happy we didn`t come inside at the break drawing. It was a good goal, a good finish from Josh and a great cross from Daniel.’
Having conceded the penalty against Hibernian that led to their winner, Partick helped him balance that.
‘I was disappointed with myself on the day but it`s something you have got to get out of your head as soon as possible and just carry on and that`s what I did. I was disappointed on the day and then the next day I was back to myself and I knew I had to focus for this game and that`s what I did.’
