SHAMAL GEORGE admits he was powerless to prevent James Tavernier's dead ball expertise as the Rangers skipper inspired his side to victory over Livingston.
Tavernier netted his eleventh goal of the campaign with a clinical first half penalty after James Penrice was penalised for fouling Alfredo Morelos.
And he brought up the dozen in stunning style as a classy free-kick found the top corner of the net and left George helpless between the sticks.
Tavernier scored the winner from a similar position on the first day of the Premiership campaign and again showed his prowess from set-piece situations.
Stephane Omeonga saw red just seconds before and Kemar Roofe added a shine to the scoreline as Michael Beale extended his unbeaten run as boss to 14 matches with an accomplished victory at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
“I thought it was a good team performance," George said. "Obviously the sending off killed us a bit but I thought it was two soft yellows.
“I thought we played well until the sending off and then they scored two good goals, the free-kick and then the third one was sloppy from us.
“Disappointing day but they are up there for a reason – you can see how good they are.
“He’s done it twice now against me with two free-kicks. Ridiculous. That’s why he’s one of the best with dead-balls in the league. I can’t really explain how good he is.
“You put a left foot or a right foot on it, it could either be Barisic or Tavernier. It made it awkward for us. Then Steph got sent off, so we were a man down on the pitch.
“It was awkward for us, we didn’t know whether to have more on the wall or less. I think it went over Kurtis’ head and he’s the tallest guy on the pitch.
“So, you can’t properly explain how good the free-kick was. You take your hat off to him – he’s a great player.
“I think I stood in the middle of the goal to cover each side and he still put it in the top corner. You can’t do much about that."
