Michael Beale admits he had some harsh words for his Rangers players at half time as they produced a “mixed bag” of a display against St Mirren.
The hosts ran out 5-2 winners at Ibrox in the end, but they were twice pegged back by Mark O’Hara stunners as the Buddies made a real game of it in Govan. Three goals in ten second half minutes saw the Gers power over the line though, with an Alfredo Morelos double and Scott Arfield off the bench to add some gloss to the scoreline.
But Beale wasn't entirely satisfied with what he saw from his team despite five goals, and he let them know at the break. He told BBC Radio Scotland: “Mixed bag of a performance if I’m honest. Obviously five goals and there were some good goals in that, but the two goals against are a concern. They could have been stopped.
“Nothing against O’Hara’s two strikes, they're both excellent - especially the first one, but we were sloppy in both moments and we need to be better in that.
“We nearly had the perfect start. We started bright and get a penalty after two or three minutes, which is what you want against a stubborn opponent, but we missed it.
“The first goal was a fantastically worked move and it's nice to see Todd (Cantwell) getting beyond the strikers and scoring. But after that it seemed like we felt the rest of the game was going to take care of itself. Although there were passages of good play, it lacked decisiveness in the final third.
"We were looking for the half-time whistle. We stopped pressing, we were sloppy with some turnovers and we got caught on the goal.
“There were some harsh words at half-time. We came out again and go and get a goal straight away, but concede off a set play and I had to make changes off the bench.
“I’m delighted with the guys who came off the bench. They all had an impact. If you're in the stadium, you can understand why we scored that amount of goals but it was a mixed back today.”
Beale also revealed that Cantwell was in the firing line at the interval despite his goal. He added: “I’m delighted with him today but I want more. We had a bit of a shake up at half-time about his reaction before we conceded the goal. That’s just me demanding standards from him.”
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