AS someone who has worn the captain’s armband for Rangers, and during times of no little strife, it was Kenny Miller’s natural instinct to reach out to James Tavernier, the current Ibrox skipper, and offer a word or two of advice during his current slump in form. But then he realised that nobody will know better than Tavernier himself what he needs to do to get through the recent drop in the standard of his play.

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard is certainly aware of it, and has pleaded for the club’s supporters to show the same patience with the full-back as he has in keeping him in the starting line-up, and keeping him on penalty duty despite his latest miss from the spot against Motherwell on Sunday.

Miller believes that is the right course of action, and he has backed his former teammate to the hilt to come through this sticky spell and get back to his best soon.

“I was about to text him before I spoke to you, but he doesn’t need me to tell him what to do,” Miller said.

“I know what kind of character he is and how he’ll be feeling. He’ll be disappointed, although you can never say how that Hearts game would’ve turned out if he hadn’t made that error.

“As for the penalties, his record up until last season was absolutely outstanding and I think it may be down to a slight lack of confidence. Fortunately, his miss against Motherwell didn’t cost them because they came back to win the game.

“He just needs to get back to doing what he does best, strip it back to the basics and get his decision-making right again. Then his confidence will return.

“Tav’s a strong character and you have to understand that he’s a very good player while also appreciating that everyone goes through a tough spell now and then. He’s having one of them right now, missing a couple of penalties and making a few mistakes in big games in the last three or four weeks, but the thing about him is that he will bounce back.

“He’ll be hurting as a result of the individual errors he’s made – two against Young Boys and one against Hearts, which cost them vital points – but he can never be accused of hiding. He stands up and accepts responsibility and he takes wearing that armband very seriously.

“Tav’s proud that he’s captain of Rangers and it’s not in his character to duck anything.”

A consistent criticism of Tavernier since he arrived at Rangers over four years ago now was that as much as he was a quality attacking full-back, the defensive side of his game was comparatively weak.

Miller doesn’t buy into that theory though despite his recent costly aberrations.

“My belief is that he’ll play his way through this period,” he said. “We’ve all seen his qualities going forward.

“But he’s also a good defender, one who’s been punished for a couple of poor decisions recently. “Whenever that happens the usual suspects come out and criticise him for his defending, blah blah blah, but if he’s asked to be a certain type of player at Rangers and attack down that right side you can’t then hold him accountable when they’re counter-attacked down that flank.

“Opponents might highlight that space but it’s then up to his team-mates to cover for him when that happens.”

If Tavernier was to be the first Rangers captain to hoist silverware above his head for eight long years, this momentary lull would of course be forgotten about. Miller knows just how desperate everyone at the club is to deliver that moment, and he also knows that no one wants it more than Tavernier.

The first opportunity to get their hands on a trophy comes in the Betfred Cup, and they go into Sunday’s semi-final at Hampden against Hearts as heavy favourites to set up a mouth-watering final against city rivals Celtic, presuming they can overcome Hibernian on Saturday.

“It would be massive for the club,” Miller said. They’ve gone far too long without winning a major trophy and that would have been high on the list of expectations when Steven Gerrard took over as manager.

“He was hired to provide a meaningful challenge in the league and also to deliver silverware, that’ll still be at the top of their agenda and Sunday gives them the opportunity to reach a final. It’s a big weekend for them.

“Last season they didn’t reach a cup final and that was a major disappointment. They lost to Aberdeen at Hampden in the BetFred Cup when Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty were unavailable and that led to Umar Sadiq coming in from the cold and ultimately the performance on the day wasn’t good enough.

“Then losing 2-0 to Aberdeen at Ibrox in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup was another blow. Anything can happen in cup finals, but they never gave themselves that opportunity.

“But Rangers are a different proposition this year. They look as though they’ll score in every single game and they have great attacking options.

“So, if they get through on Sunday they’ll have a great chance of winning their first trophy in nine seasons.

“I do see a different team this year.”

*Catch all the action from Rangers v Hearts in the semi-final of the Betfred Cup live on Sunday from 14:30 on BT Sport 1.