Both Malik Tillman and James Sands came up big for Rangers as they both scored key goals to help the teams advance to the next round of the Scottish FA Cup.
Rangers 3-2 Partick Thistle
James Sands score the game-winner for Rangers, but it would Malik Tillman’s strike that caused a ruckus as the holders held on for the narrow win over Partick Thistle at Ibrox Stadium.
Both Sands and Tillman started and went the distance for the Light Blues they await their next opponent in the tournament.
The Championship side was up for a fight as they did give the hosts a few scares. They eventually found a breakthrough when the referee, through the aid of the video assistant referee, pointed to the spot for a penalty. Rangers’ forward Antonio Colak was harshly punished for a handball in the box, leading Kevin Holt to step and convert the spot-kick in the 35th minute.
The Croatian made up for giving away the penalty by leveling the score in the 50th minute. Nicolas Raskin’s cross found him on the left-hand side of the box and he sent a thumping header past Partick goalkeeper Jamie Sneddon. Rangers were then given a chance to take the lead 15 minutes later when Tillman was tripped up by Stuart Bannigan. James Tavernier took the penalty, but it would be saved by Sneddon.
Controversy would then arise in the 71st minute when Tillman gave Rangers the lead with his goal. The midfielder had initially gone down after taking a knock from a Partick player. Unbeknownst that the ball had been put out of play, he took it from Holt as he was about to return it to the hosts and dribbled it into the box to score. This angered the visitors as they attacked Tillman, knocking him to the ground in the melee.
Rangers’ head coach Michael Beale then took the step to allow Partick to level the score after the misunderstanding, giving no challenge to Scot Tiffoney.
In the dying minutes of the game, Sands would ensure the hosts advanced as he rose up to head in the game-winner from a Borna Barisic corner kick.
Celtic 5-1 St. Mirren
Celtic was dominant from start to finish as they booked their place into the next round of the Scottish Cup with a comfortable win over St. Mirren at Parkhead Stadium.
Cameron Carter-Vickers took up his usual center-back place for the Hoops.
The hosts opened the scoring after 16 minutes when Aaron Mooy sent a low cross into the path of Daizen Maeda to steer past St. Mirren goalkeeper Trevor Carson.
It took some time for more goals to come, but they did when the referee pointed to the spot for a penalty. Richard Taylor’s handball prevented Oh Hyeon-Gyu from scoring and after confirmation from the video assistant referee, the English center-back was sent off. Reo Hatate converted the spot-kick.
Oh would grab his goal in the 80th minute as he put away a loose ball in the box.
Mark O’Hara would score a consolation goal for St. Mirren from the spot, but Matthew O’Riley and Hatate put away two more as Celtic cruised to the win.
Note
Rangers head coach Michael Beale spoke out in defense of Malik Tillman following their game against Partick Thistle as he scored a controversial goal when the visitors were looking to play the ball back to the hosts following a stoppage for his injury.
“It was a big misunderstanding, the whole thing,” said Beale in his postgame comments.
“Malik gets injured. We play the ball out. Malik’s on the floor, he’s unaware that we’ve played the ball out so when he gets up, he just thinks it’s a throw-in to Partick Thistle. He presses innocently and then he’s through on goal and he goes and finishes the move.
“I don’t want us to win a football game on a misunderstanding and it was a misunderstanding. It would’ve been the wrong thing to do. I’ve got high standards but the club I work for has got high standards as well and as Rangers Football Club, we’re in a better place tonight that we did that. It’s not an easy thing to do, trust me. We won the game, we won the game in the right way.”
