John Souttar has opened up on his Rangers derby error branding it 'poor'.
The Light Blues defender was handed his Old Firm bow at Parkhead after Michael Beale suffered a major injury blow in the shape of key defender Connor Goldson. The former Hearts man was paired alongside Ben Davies as the Ibrox men lost out 3-2 to fall 12 points behind Ange Postecoglou's champions in the Premiership standings.
Kyogo Furuhashi netted a double with Jota capitalising on an error from the Scotland international as he nipped in to round Allan McGregor and slide the ball into an empty net. Rangers skipper James Tavernier hit the 100-goal milestone with two strikes of his own, including a stunning free-kick, but it was the Hoops who came out on top in the five-goal thriller.
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Souttar admits he joined Rangers to play in these big games and in Europe. He says it was a 'brilliant' atmosphere to be involved in but confessed two costly errors left them heading back to Govan with nothing.
He explained: “Going into the game I thought this was why I signed for Rangers, to play in these big games, Old Firm derbies and in Europe. It was brilliant to be involved in that atmosphere. As a team I thought we did well in parts of the game. But obviously two mistakes cost us.
“My mistake for the third goal was poor. It’s one of those things, everyone has them in football don’t they? A slack pass or something else going wrong. But it’s how you react. You can’t let it affect you as it’ll happen to everyone. You just need to bounce back and react well.
“I held my hands up and said it was my fault. It was pretty obvious to hold my hands up and say that as it was. I have to take it as that was my responsibility. I just need to react now and hopefully I’ll get the chance to do that.
“Every footballer goes through something similar, a mistake or an injury or anything. And it’s all about how you react in football isn’t it? How you move on from the bad moments. Anyone can go and play a good game. It’s easy. It’s the moments where you’ve made a mistake or something’s gone not quite right where you’re judged and people see how mentally strong you are. It’s up to me to react at the weekend and go and put in a good performance.”
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