James Tavernier leaves Ally McCoist and Andy Walker bemused in 1st half for Rangers
Rangers captain James Tavernier left the Sky Sports pundits baffled with a pass he played during the first half at Celtic that saw Allan McGregor bail him out.
With the visitors only 1-0 down following the early opener from Reo Hatate, the Gers skipper appeared to let the pressure get to him when he played a loose ball into his own area after 14 minutes, allowing Jota to steal in and force a save from McGregor, before the Scottish keeper pushed away Giorgos Giakoumakis’ effort from the rebound.
Neither of the pundits on the live Sky Sports match broadcast understood what he was playing at, with Andy Walker saying: “I’ve no idea what Tavernier is doing there with that extraordinary pass. So loose.
“But Rangers get out of jail with McGregor, back to top form.”
Light Blue hero Ally McCoist concurred, saying: “You’re spot on Andy, no idea what Tavernier was doing there.
“A comfortable save for McGregor but a good one”.
Horror show
In this match a mindless mistake by a Rangers leader actually went down as one of the less painful events in that it didn’t result in a Celtic goal.
The two Glasgow sides switched positions at the top of the table as Giovanni van Bronckhorst lost his first SPFL game at the home of the club’s biggest rivals.
The momentum that had built since the winter break was on full show from kick off.
The last-minute winner that The Hoops bagged in their previous match looked to have made all the difference as they flew out of the blocks.
Gers simply couldn’t cope with them throughout the first half, and came in at the break 3-0 down.
Although they grew into the game a bit for the second half and managed not to concede further, that was not saying much in light of how bad they were in the opening period.
After all the excitement of the January deadline day arrival of Aaron Ramsey, it was down to earth with a huge bump as the Light Blues were dominated in front of the Welshman in the stands.
In other Rangers news, these are the Ibrox News player ratings from the Old Firm derby.