I think it flatters Rangers – Neil McCann on Ibrox Defeat

Kilmarnock boss Neil McCann has “zero criticism” from his side’s 5-1 defeat to Rangers, after battling for 86 minutes with a man down at Ibrox. Dom Thompson’s early red card was compounded by James Tavernier’s clinical penalty, presenting the Ayrshire side with a mountain to climb. Despite the setbacks, McCann believes his team were the “better side” in the first half. ‘I’m so disappointed, we lost a man so early in the match, and I’ve got my thoughts on that, but you have to suck it up.’ ‘You have to continue to trust the players and what the game plan is, your game plan is sort of up in the smokes, and we’re a man down.’ ‘The instruction wasn’t any different, in terms of, we still wanted them to be brave, we still wanted them to get into the game, we still wanted them to pass, and be everything we want them to be moving forward.’ ‘I felt that we were the better side in the first half, and then it is just natural that we gassed in the second half, then you succumb to what looks like a heavy defeat.’ McCann believed Tavernier should have been dismissed in the second period, after colliding with striker Tyrece John-Jules. ‘I think that should be evened up in the second period, there is clear contact on our striker John-Jules, it’s James Tavernier who is just caught on the opposite side, and when he turns, there’s complete contact, on a player that is on the turn, and he falls over.’ ‘There’s no reason for him to go down, and I’m told that there is not enough contact. I can’t understand that. There’s either contact on a player who is in on goal, or there’s not.’ ‘Not enough contact is not a good enough explanation’ Kilmarnock ended a barren, 17-game winless run on Saturday, after dispatching Aberdeen at BBSP Rugby Park. Sitting six points behind their next opponents, St Mirren, pivotal games await McCann’s side. ‘I’ve got zero criticism of my boys tonight because when you go down to 10 men so early in a match, sometimes it can have an effect, particularly when we were just off that real bad run on Saturday. My goodness, I thought they were brilliant tonight.’