James Tavernier praises Rangers' reaction to Hibs loss

James Tavernier has praised the reaction of his Rangers teammates after they grabbed all three points against Partick Thistle on Tuesday.

The Gers lost to Neil Lennon's Hibs side at Ibrox on Saturday - but a 2-0 win at Firhill was enough to put them three points behind second-place Aberdeen.

Rangers could have put some pressure on Celtic after the Parkhead side went down 1-0 to Steve Clarke's Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, but they were unable to capitalise.

Yet Graeme Murty's men did not allow that disappointment to affect them too much as they hit back with a 2-0 win over Thistle to cut the Dons' deficit back to three.

Defender Tavernier gave away a late penalty on Saturday for a push on Scott Allan, and Jamie MacLaren sealed the win for the away side from the penalty spot - however a spectacular goal at the Energy Check Stadium helped his side on Tuesday.

Josh Windass had put Rangers in front six minutes before the break but the visitors had the upright to thank for keeping out a Connor Sammon strike moments later.

"I'm really happy with the goal,'' said Tavernier. I'm probably more disappointed with the chance I had just beforehand when I was inside the box.

"But I'm just delighted to score and also with the response from the boys.

"We wanted to get back to winning ways after Saturday's disappointment. We had to get the three points after slipping up against Hibs.

"We had to ride out the storm when Thistle were on top of us and obviously the post helped us.

"But when Josh got that first goal it relieved a bit of pressure and I thought we played some good football in the second half.'

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