By Craig Rae
Michael Beale has said that there have been positive discussions with Malik Tillman after the US International’s double downed Dundee United at Ibrox
It was a decent first half with no real chances created but the deadlock was broken in the 38th minute with the only piece of quality as Cantwell’s exquisite touch made it to Tillman who made no mistake.
The midfielders have started to build up a positive relationship since Cantwell’s arrival and that’s something that Beale touched upon post-match.
“Todd and Malik is a relationship I really want to encourage and we’ve done a lot of work on it”
It is interesting to see the relationships build across the pitch, more so with Cantwell who has already built a positive one with Nico Raskin and the fans will be pleased that the two most creative players are building on it.
Tillman is of course only in on loan, and we will need to pay Bayern a pretty penny to secure his services, the manager confirmed pre match that more discussions took place with the Germans over the International break and said that they were ‘positive’.
We know that Beale wants Tillman to stay and asked if he feels that the midfielder wants to be here next season, the manager simply replied ‘yes’ – a positive sign for the Rangers fans.
Tillman managed a second after he squeezed the ball through the Dundee United defender and goalkeeper’s legs to secure the three points and a clean sheet for Allan McGregor on his 500th appearance for Rangers.
The number one was awared with a special recognition award pre match from the greatest ever Ranger John Greig and he was awarded with the Man of the Match to round off a special day for the Hall of Famer.
John Lundstram was also present after the match, and he had nothing but praise for McGregor.
“This is a moment for me to pay a massive tribute to him, he’s been huge for me since I came in, vocal in the dressing room and a leader by example on the training pitch. He’s in two hours early every day, I come in and his car’s always there and it’s a testament to him to get 500 games for this club. It’s such a historic club and for someone to come in and play 500 games is a massive achievement.”
Only time will tell if this is McGregor’s last hurrah at Ibrox but he still has a lot left in the tank to give for the rest of the season at least.
Lundstram also spoke about the upcoming Old Firm tie at Parkhead, the gap was closed to six points today, having played a game more than Celtic and a victory is crucial to not only make a statement but to keep alive the small hopes of winning the title.
“We’ve got to perform better than what we did in the Cup Final, we weren’t great and after next week hopefully you can see that the gap isn’t that big. we need to keep fighting and try and claw back some points, we’re looking forward to it.”
Rangers have received a few beatings at Parkhead lately, but the team seem to be a different animal under Beale and with the likes of Cantwell and Tillman on top form, anything is possible.
Beale has been victorious in every single away match since his return in November, let’s hope that run continues next Saturday.
