Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

Michael Beale makes 'harsh words' admission over Rangers half-time team talk

Michael Beale has revealed he had "harsh words" with his Rangers players at half-time in the 5-2 win over St Mirren.

The Ibrox side had gone in level at 1-1 at the break but ran out comfortable winners in the end with a flurry of late goals.

However, Beale branded the performance as a "mixed bag" as he explained his disappointment at half time in particular.

"There were some harsh words at half time," he said. "We come out and get a goal straight away but we concede off a set play and I have to make changes off the bench.

"I'm delighted with the guys who came off the bench and made an impact. I think all the guys who came on did well. If you are in the stadium you can understand why we scored so many goals but it was a mixed bag today.

"It was a mixed bag of a performance if I'm honest. Obviously, getting five goals and some good ones which I will comment on but the two goals against are a concern because they could have been stopped. Nothing against O'Hara's strikes because they were excellent, especially the first one but we were sloppy in both moments and we need to be better than that."

On the performance in the first half, he added: "We nearly had the perfect start. We started the game quite bright and we get a penalty after two or three minutes. It's what you want against stubborn defence but we miss it.

"The first goal in the game was a really good goal, it was brilliantly worked and it's nice to see Todd get beyond the striker. After that we looked like we thought the game would take care of itself and although there were passages of good play, we lacked decisiveness in the final third and I thought we were looking for the half time whistle.

"We stopped pressing and were a bit sloppy in turnovers. We get caught on the goal where we have a four vs three and we make a bad decision. The ball is bouncing around our box and we are not getting up to it."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.