Michael Beale admits allowing Partick Thistle to score was ‘right thing to do’ as Rangers boss rushes to Malik Tillman defence

Rangers boss Michael Beale insists Malik Tillman was “completely unaware” of any misconduct during his controversial goal in their Scottish Cup fifth round victory over Partick Thistle at Ibrox.

In what was an incident-packed contest, the holders ran out 3-2 winners against the Jags to progress to the quarter-finals but Beale’s side were made to sweat by their Championship opponents.

Thistle captain Kevin Holt gave the visitors a shock half-time lead with a well-taken penalty after 35 minutes before Croatian frontman Antonio Colak levelled the tie soon after the restart. James Tavernier then saw his spot-kick saved by goalkeeper Jamie Sneddon.

Drama unfolded when the Gers had put the ball out of play for Tillman to receive treatment for an injury. Holt looked to give the ball back to the home side from a throw-in but the Bayern Munich loanee proceeded to rob him of possession and ran through to round the goalkeeper and tap home into the net, sparking widespread anger among the Thistle players. A melee involving players from both sides broke out before referee David Munro eventually allowed the goal to stand.

As a result, Beale then instructed his players to allow playmaker Scott Tiffoney to run up the pitch and equalise in the act of sportsmanship. The Englishman was pleased his side managed to grab the winner with four minutes of normal time remaining when James Sands’ header deflected off Connor McAvoy into his own net.

Beale leapt to the defence of Tillman in his post-match media conference, claiming the attacking midfielder was completely innocent.

Asked to elaborate on his goodwill gesture, Beale said: “If you watch the whole thing back, Malik gets injured and we play the ball out. Malik is down on the floor and he doesn’t see that. So by the time Malik gets up, he sees they have a throw-in and he puts his hand up to the referee as if to say ‘how have they got a throw?’ and then he presses as he has been taught.

“He’s completely unaware of the situation, of what happened. I had to speak to my bench to make sure that is what they saw as well. Malik came over and I spoke to him and he confirmed it. So it (allowing Thistle to equalise) was the right thing to do.

“For me, my players and my club, I don’t want that thrown at us because it was an unfortunate situation and a unique one. Malik is a fantastic young player and I don’t want that hanging over his head. He has never cheated anyone in his life and as a football club we have high standards.

“We don’t need to do that to beat Partick Thistle at home. There were players close by, so we explained to them to stand to one side. It is not an easy thing to ask footballers to do because they haven’t seen it, but it was the right thing to do. For everything I want to stand for as a club and what I want to stand for and also for protecting a fantastic young player from having something thrown at him which I won’t allow.

“Yes it could have been risky but we don’t want to win like that. We don’t want to earn anything we aren’t due as a club or what we have earned on the park. That’s my overriding feeling on the whole situation that it would have been injust if we had gone through that way. It was a complete misunderstanding but I am glad we’re through, and we are not talking about that as the reason we are in the quarter-finals.”

Opposite number Ian McCall admitted it was the first time in his management career that an incident like that had occured but reckons Rangers made the right decision in allowing his side to score. Speaking prior to his shock dismissal just hours later, he stated: “I’ve been in football since 1981 and I’ve never seen anything like it before.

“From my point of view, Tillman didn’t realise what was going on. I don’t blame the referee because I’m not sure he can stop it. Maybe he can, I’m not sure what the rules are but I’m not sure he realised what was going on. We were just about to kick it back. Then Michael made a decision which I think reflects really well on him and this football club.

“Then it was game on after that. I hold no ill-feeling towards Malik Tillman whatsoever. I think I’d done it if I’m being honest. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we had won 3-2 but he made the decision and I think it was the right one. I think sometimes a bit of class is going out of football but that showed it.”