PEDRO Caixinha last night admitted Rangers had blown their chance to win three games in a row for the first time during his reign by by not converting their chances against Partick Thistle in a Ladbrokes Premiership game at Firhill.
The Ibrox club took the lead in the first half when Alfredo Morelos, their Columbian striker netted his eighth goal in nine games, and appeared to be cruising to another comfortable victory.
However, they conceded two goals in the space of 10 minutes to Blair Spittal and Chris Erskine, who was later sent off, in the second half and only earned a draw when Graham Dorrans netted a spectacular late equaliser.
Caixinha, whose side had the chance to knock Celtic off top spot in the Premiership table, felt that his players were punished for failing to take the scoring opportunities which they created in the first half.
“It was a missed chance for us to combine three wins in a row,” said Caixinha. “That was our objective when we came here. I'm disappointed. I think we dropped two points.
“We were coming with just one desire. The only thing in our head was to take the three points. When we scored with 15 minutes to go I head the idea that we would push on for the win.
"But during the first half when we had such clear chances to go and kill the game and didn't take them, I had a feeling it was going to cost us. The reality is the game penalises you in that direction.
"We committed two mistakes that led to the opponents goals. For the first, we lost a duel on the half-way line and another duel on the edge of the box. We need to avoid those type of things that give the momentum and confidence to the opponents.”
Caixinha added: “The problem is on the conceded goals we're averaging 1.2 on average before this game and it needs to be below one. I'm not concerned about it but I'm working in that direction.
“Those things happen in reality and the other reality is we must have control of the game when we have the ball and not give confidence and momentum in the game to the opponents.
Meanwhile , Caixinha revealed that Rangers medical staff will assess the condition of Lee Wallace, his captain and left back who limped off with a recurrence of a groin injury early in the first half, this week.
But the Scotland internationalist, who was sidelined with the problem earlier this season, is a serious doubt for the first Glasgow derby match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox next Saturday.
“As you know, he’s been feeling something on the groin since the surgery,” he said. “It’s a question of balance. He felt it so we had to make the substitution early on in the game. I’ll need to evaluate the situation with the doctors. Now is premature to talk about it.”
Declan John, the 22-year-old Manchester City loanee, came on for Wallace and performed brightly on his debut and Caixinha is confident he will be able to step up if his team mate fails to make it. “I think Declan did okay,” he said. “Now we have options.”
Thistle manager Alan Archibald said: “That’s great for the lads. it gives them a bit more confidence and belief. I thought we defended our box really well. That’s why we left the three centre-backs on, to go and deal with that threat and I felt they did so.
“It took a quality goal to make it 2-2. I didn’t think they worked our goalie too much. But if you let Dorrans step in and have time, he has the quality to hurt you.”
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