Rangers captain James Tavernier admits Motherwell capitulation wasn’t acceptable as Giovanni van Bronckhorst issues fresh calls for VAR

James Tavernier is adamant that if Rangers are to retain their Premiership crown this season then their second half capitulation against Motherwell cannot happen again.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side cruised into a two-goal lead against the Steelmen at Ibrox, courtesy of Bevis Mugabi’s own goal and Fashion Sakala’s strike before they were pegged back by the visitors to blow a huge chance to turn up the heat on leaders Celtic at the top of the table.

The Light Blues skipper knows the manner in which they unravelled was not acceptable and believes his team-mates must start capitalising on more of the chances they are creating.

Tavernier said: “We were comfortable in the first half, going two goals up and constantly asking questions, but in the second half we let them back in the game with two poor goals and we need to be more clinical in the final third.

“We are playing good football up to those areas and putting them under pressure from all of us to make a difference.

“I don’t think they had many chances but the chances they had, they put away. We know that no matter what level we play at, we can always get punished if we let teams have chances and that’s what we did.

“It’s a missed opportunity. We are still three points behind and need a massive performance on Wednesday now.

“If you look at the Dundee United game and this game, we played really good football but couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.

“We are creating but it’s just that final piece that we need to finish teams off and we definitely need to see games out better when we’ve got a 2-0 lead at home.

“We’ll reflect on the game, look back on where we need to improve then put this to one side. The full focus is on Wednesday now.”

Gers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst stepped up his call for VAR to be implemented in Scottish football after claiming the technology would have helped his side beat Motherwell.

The Dutchman was furious with the match officials after Liam Shaw was caught in an offside position in the build-up to Kaiyne Woolery’s equaliser which completed a sensational turnaround.

Alfredo Morelos also had two efforts chalked off for close offside calls and Van Bronckhorst felt referee Don Robertson and his assistants required more support to make those big decisions.

He admitted: “We created 30 chances. I know it has been a hard few weeks but we were playing well and creating chances.

“We got three minutes extra time, which for me was unbelievable. Again it is the refs that decide it.

“I think with the build up to their second goal, the player was offside and we scored two goals which were even close with Morelos.

“You couldn’t see it with your eye and they got that really sharp eye in those moments, but when one player is one yard offside they didn’t see it.

“That’s why you need VAR, for these moments to help referees. With VAR we would have won this game.”

The result ensured Rangers have now won just three of their last eight league games but Van Bronckhorst hit back at claims his side struggle to maintain their performance levels after dumping Borussia Dortmund out of the Europa League on Thursday.

He stated: “The mentality is good. I didn’t hear any complaints on Thursday about the mentality and it is the same players.

“It is only a couple of days later. Sometimes these situation happen. We have to be more ruthless defensively and we have to be more clinical in front of goa.

If you look back at the run after the winter break, getting four draws isn’t good enough and it has to be better, especially with the standards we want to have with this club.

“Of course we can do things better but I think the mentality of the players is what is needed to be successful. Obviously we cannot continue to dominate games and just get one point.”