Celtic subs told me we were doing very well, says Rangers defender James Tavernier

JAMES TAVERNIER said Rangers knew they were doing something right when they saw Moussa Dembele then Scott Sinclair being hooked by Celtic.

The two Hoops forwards ran riot in the Old Firm derbies last season, racking up nine goals between them.

Yesterday, though, as Tavernier pointed out, it was a very different story, with neither man able to come close to laying a glove on their rivals.

“Dembele and Sinclair are two big players for them so it was great for us to see them coming off,” said the Englishman.

“Obviously, though, Leigh Griffiths comes on and he’s been putting the ball in the net.

“So, as well as being pleased at the ones who are going off you have to be aware they are bringing on good players, too.

“Coming in at half-time 0-0, we were still in the game so we tried to regroup and go at it again.

“The substitutions were the next thing and I thought we passed the ball really well, second-half, and dominated for large spells of the game.

“We created some good chances and were just disappointed the ball didn’t go into the back of the net.

“To be fair, Craig Gordon pulled off some great saves. I thought it was a good game where we could have taken the three points way from here.

“Their crowd was on their backs by the end and that was obviously a great feeling as well.

“When we play at Ibrox, other teams will be laughing when our fans are on us. Both teams have set high standards.”

Tavernier was frank about the dressing room exchange at half-time.

“I was doing a lot of shouting and a few of the other boys were doing a lot of shouting,” he said.

“It’s only healthy to do that in the dressing room.

“We all want the best for each other and we’ve got to keep driving ourselves on to demand the best of each other.

“We are setting good standards and we want to keep them.

“The boys set a really big benchmark today and we can’t drop from that.

“From the boys, defensively and offensively, we were outstanding. We can’t drop our standards from that – we have to keep pushing on.”

He backed teammate Alfredo Morelos to quickly put the disappointment of his missed opportunities behind him.

“Strikers will miss chances. I remember the last time we came here Waggy (Martyn Waghorn) missed two chances, it’s one of those things.

“He’s a good lad and will move forward from this.”