James McFadden stunned by Tavernier moment on Sky Sports in Rangers v Aberdeen
James McFadden was stunned by James Tavernier as Rangers earned a 4-0 victory over Aberdeen on Sunday.
Barry Ferguson finally got his first win at Ibrox as the Rangers manager, with second-half goals from Vaclav Cerny, Cyriel Dessers, Hamza Igamane and Jefte giving the hosts a comfortable victory on 11 May.
The result also saw the Light Blues keep a clean sheet in the Scottish Premiership for the first time since their 4-0 win against Ross County on 2 February.
While those details do not mean much as the Gers do not have anything to play for, it at least gave the supporters something to be happy about, with Tavernier among those who impressed on a sunny afternoon in Glasgow.
McFadden blown away by Tavernier pass to Dessers
The scoreline would have been much worse for Aberdeen had Rangers and Dessers, in particular, taken all the chances that came their way.
Dessers had a golden opportunity to put the Ibrox outfit in front around the half-hour mark in the first half when Tavernier set him up for a header with a sublime cross.
However, the Nigerian failed to even test Dimitar Mitov in the Aberdeen goal, getting his headed attempt completely wrong, much to McFadden’s disappointment.
| Passes | Chances Created | Successful Dribbles | Accurate Crosses | Recoveries | Ground Duels Won |
| 57/70 (81%) | 6 (1st) | 2/2 | 5/11 (45%) | 10 | 3/4 (75%) |
The Sky Sports pundit claimed that Dessers should have easily converted the chance, but reserved praise for Tavernier, whose cross he described as ‘excellent’.
“He [Dessers] should be doing so much better”, McFadden said on Sky Sports Main Event (11 May, 12:31 pm).
“It’s a ball down to Tavernier, it’s only Dessers he can hit, and he finds him.
“It’s an excellent cross, good movement from Dessers, he’s got a lot of time, and look at that, it’s a textbook back-across-goal down into the ground, slides off his head.
“He should have his team in front, Cyriel Dessers. What a ball it is from Tavernier.”
Ferguson glad to end Ibrox woes at Rangers
This was Rangers‘ penultimate home game of the season. Ferguson was winless at Ibrox in his five matches there prior to the win against Aberdeen.
He would be glad to have finally ended his winless run at home, as it would have been terrible for him to step down as the Gers’ caretaker manager without a win at Ibrox.
Nevertheless, Ferguson appears to be heading towards the exit door at Auchenhowie, with incoming owners Andrew Cavenagh and Paraag Marathe looking elsewhere for a new manager.