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Partick Frustration For Caixinha & John

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Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha has spoken of his deep frustration at Friday evening’s draw with Partick Thistle.

Heading to Firhill for the game, Rangers took the lead inside the opening 20 minutes with Alfredo Morelos finding the net, but a slow start and two defensive errors allowed the hosts to draw level and then take the lead, meaning we had to rely on Graham Dorrans to salvage a point.

Whilst Caixinha was pleased with the work rate, again he knew Rangers had to be better than that moving forward if we are to achieve our aims and he told the Official Site in his post game press conference.

‘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. They were recovering the ball and they were attacking us, and it was looking like a transitions game – or what I would say was more like a basketball game.’

Caixinha went on to say.

‘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. After that, we didn`t understand what was going on, we needed to calm down, and then from one bit of bad positioning from the full-back who was too far away and not closing inside, they did a perfect cross in-between the defensive line and the goalkeeper to score. We kept going, and we made a couple of changes. Until the end we arrived many times, but it was more with the heart than with the head. We fought, and we did everything to get it there, but we could not find the right pass to get the goal.’

With the Betfred Cup clash at Firhill next up on Tuesday evening, he knew we had to bounce back quickly.

‘It was two great strikes, and two great goals. But, it is not a question of individuality. We were coming here to win the game, and we think we lost two points. 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.’

With Declan John making his debut in the game as a substitute for injured Lee Wallace, he admitted it was mixed feelings for him as he met with the press following the game.

‘It was good to make my debut, I didn`t expect Lee to go down injured and then having to play 80 minutes when I haven`t played a game in around two or three weeks was quite tough but I enjoyed it. It was bad for Lee to go off injured, he is a top player for us but I was really glad to get on and get some minutes in. Hopefully I can get some more minutes on Tuesday and then on Saturday too.’

John went on to say.

‘At the end of the day with the football we play I think it suits me down to the ground. On the first day I came up here I always said the football was fast and it is tough as well which I like. I am quite attacking, I need to work on my defending but going forward I do have that in my locker and I will put the ball in the box for boys to score some goals as well. It was tough tonight, we went in 1-0 up and you don`t want to come out and concede a goal straight away but I thought the boys did well to get it back to 2-2.’

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