Former St Johnstone boss raves about James Tavenier on BBC Sportscene after dramatic Rangers win over Hearts – ‘I love him’
James Tavernier is a “great player” who “changed the whole game” as Rangers came back from a goal down to beat Hearts, according to Callum Davidson.
The former St Johnstone manager raved about the Ibrox captain on BBC Sportscene after the 31-year-old scored a late equaliser and assisted an even later winner on 29 October, saying of the right-back, “I love him”.
Tavernier’s game prior to the 90th-minute leveller from the penalty spot had been poor, and included missing a previous spot kick late in first-half added time, but Davidson praised his “courage” in still taking and scoring the second to bring Philippe Clement’s side back into it.
Davidson said (7.33pm): “Tavernier, I love him, I think he’s a great player. He’s got a lot of character, shows a lot of courage [in] the way he misses that penalty where you’d probably expect him to score.
“Here again, going to VAR, then obviously having the courage to step up and take another penalty at a really important time, I think it was the 90th minute of the game, he’s basically changed the whole game for me, Tavernier.”
Fightback
The result was ultimately exactly what Clement and Rangers needed to finally take advantage of an opportunity to close the gap on Celtic.
The belief to push on for a winner after finally levelling the scores was also something that it is hard to believe would have happened in the final weeks of the Michael Beale era.
But alarm bells should have been ringing for the new manager as he watched 90 minutes of uninspired play, where his side didn’t look close to scoring off their own back and so many were poor.
Tavernier himself had been one of the worst for most of the afternoon, having hit the post when handed a golden opportunity to level before the break after Todd Cantwell had been brought down, and also failing to close down Alex Cochrane when he crossed for Lawrence Shankland’s opener.
Prior to the late assist that found the head of Danilo for the winner his crossing had also created very little, but it is to his credit that he was there when it mattered to rescue three points from a wet and miserable day for this Rangers side.
So often the captain proves to be the difference but whether he should have to be is another matter, and Clement will surely know he has a lot of work to do on his team after the latest performance.
In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart slammed one underperforming Gers man he was shocked to see stay on the pitch.