James Tavernier admits Rangers were 'unacceptable' at Hampden and says a 'look in the mirror' will follow Sunday's cup final defeat.
It was the end of Michael Beale's unbeaten run as Rangers manager at the national stadium as Tavernier and co fell to a 2-1 defeat against rivals Celtic. The Viaplay Cup final was a tussle for the first piece of silverware up for grabs this season with Rangers trailing Ange Postecoglou's men by nine points in the battle for the league title, placing emphasis for Rangers on the Hampden showpiece.
But the Light Blues skipper, who last season lifted the Scottish Cup, admits it was 'unacceptable' to come away from the game with nothing. The 31-year-old claims, however, that there is still a lot to play for as the season nears the final third and that a more honest asssement of the game will be clear for Beale's men in the days to come.
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He told Rangers TV: "First and foremost I have to apologise to the fans. It was an unacceptable performance from ourselves. The first half wasn't good enough, we know that, and conceding before half-time left us more to do.
"Conceded the second one then got our goal, created another good chance but we wasted enough time in the game to react and that is the most disappointing factor. Yeah, we obviously got some belief when Alfredo scored and we then went on to create a couple more chances. But you can't give away that much time in the game to try to get yourself back in it.
"So we're disappointed with that. It's the first defeat we've had under the gaffer. We've been getting the results that we wanted to but there when it mattered, we didn't get the result.
"We know there's a lot of work to be done and we're continuing to work hard on the training pitch. But we have to deliver every game and we couldn't do that today."
He added: "I have had my words in there. I am not going to go into too much detail but we have had an honest chat and we will have an honest chat through the week.
"It's one of those ones where everybody in there knows we've let a lot of people down. That's why it hurts, because we've let so many people down in a manner that we didn't want to. Going through the week, we'll have our chats and we'll have our meetings.
"It's hard to get your words across now because there's so much frustration. But with a calm head through the week we'll go through a lot of things.
"We all have to look in the mirror and be honest with each other. There is obviously a lot still to play for this season, it is our first defeat under the gaffer."
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