Glasgow Rangers were left embarrassed as Philippe Clement‘s men exited the SFA Cup at the fifth round stage with a 1-0 defeat to Championship side Queen’s Park on Sunday.
The Light Blues were booted out of the competition by the second-tier side, thanks to a brilliant second-half goal from Sebastian Drozd, who dribbled inside the box before slotting past Liam Kelly.
Clement’s side will now have to either overcome a 13-point gap to Celtic to win the Scottish Premiership or win the Europa League to avoid ending the season without any silverware.
The Light Blues did have the chance to give themselves a lifeline in the dying embers of added time, though, after Cyriel Dessers was pushed to the floor in the box, which presented captain James Tavernier with a chance from the spot.
James Tavernier’s miss against Queen’s Park
He has netted 69 penalties in his career and had only missed 18 prior to his kick of the ball on Sunday, although five of those misses came in the 2023/24 campaign.
|
James Tavernier’s last ten penalties |
|
|---|---|
|
Opposition |
Result |
|
Queen’s Park |
Missed |
|
Ross County |
Scored |
|
Dundee |
Scored |
|
Kilmarnock |
Missed |
|
Ross County |
Scored |
|
Celtic |
Scored |
|
Hibernian |
Missed |
|
Hibernian |
Missed |
|
Motherwell |
Scored |
|
St Johnstone |
Scored |
VAR confirmed the penalty and Tavernier put the ball down, ready to take his kick, only for the referee to pause the process again for VAR to do another check of the attacking phase of play, which disrupted the right-back’s run-up.
The English full-back finally stepped up to take his penalty and produced a tame effort at a good height for Will Ferie, down to his left, to make the save.
Tavernier’s weak effort, ultimately, spoiled any chance for Rangers to get back into the match to go on and progress through to the next round.
However, the former Newcastle United defender was far from the only poor performer for the Light Blues, as Brazilian left-back Jefte was just as bad as his captain.
Jefte cost Rangers a potential trophy
The summer signing may just have cost Clement a chance at winning any silverware this season, due to the difficulty of winning the Europa League or closing a 13-point gap on Celtic, due to his error for the Queen’s Park winner.
Jefte stood up Drozd when the ball dropped to the winger at the back post and he was stuck on his heels as the forward dribbled past him with ease in the box, which then allowed him a free shot to bury an effort past Kelly.
Glasgow World awarded the left-footed flop a player rating of 2/10 and lamented his poor defending for the goal, as well as his lack of quality at the top end of the pitch when pushing forward to put crosses into the box.
Jefte has created 22 chances and registered two assists in 22 appearances in the Scottish Premiership this season, which shows that he does have the ability to provide good deliveries into the box, but the Brazilian did not create anything of note in the defeat to Queen’s Park.
Overall, the 21-year-old defender was just as bad as Tavernier, due to his poor defending for the match-winning goal, and his mistake may well have just massively contributed to Rangers potentially ending this season without any silverware.
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At the age of 21, hopefully, Jefte will learn from moments like that and eventually develop into the kind of defender Rangers can rely on in moments like that, rather than being a defensively liability, as he was on Sunday.
