KRIS Boyd may have scored one of the greatest goals of his career against Partick Thistle – but he admits the strike was overshadowed by a poor performance.
The striker is well aware that his own display, and that of the entire team, was simply not good enough after being pushed all the way by the First Division side in the Co-operative Insurance Cup on Wednesday night.
As holders of the silverware, R
angers were expected to ease into the quarter-finals but needed extra-time – and another special goal from Pedro Mendes – to progress to a last-eight meeting with Hamilton.
Boyd's superb left-foot volley has even drawn comparisons with Marco van Basten, but he said: "I'm obviously delighted with the goal but I think the performance is the most important thing. It wasn't up to scratch.
"The chances we've had, we've not taken. That probably gave Partick Thistle the hope they could get back into it.
"They did that, they broke away and scored, and to be fair they put us under pressure from there onwards. Extra-time, we huffed and puffed there as well, but it was a great finish by Pedro and we are just delighted to be in the next round."
An early exit at the hands of Thistle would have been regarded as a major setback following the recovery operation the club have undertaken in the weeks following their shock defeat to Kaunas in the Champions League.
With another win in the bag, albeit an unconvincing one, Boyd is keen to turn the focus back to the Clydesdale Bank Premier League campaign and Sunday's visit to Easter Road.
He said: "We obviously huffed and puffed to be in the next round, but we're there – that's the most important thing.
"We're delighted to be there, but – apart from probably 15-20 minutes in the first half – that wasn't good enough for Rangers.
"Last season, we won this competition. You really don't want to be going out at this stage. We're through and hopefully we can look forward to the league game against Hibs on Sunday with confidence."
Boyd has so far held down a regular place in the first team this season, with Walter Smith favouring a more attacking style of play with two strikers, and he is hoping his wonder strike ensures he remains in the manager's plans.
"I'm delighted to play as many games as I can," he told Rangers World. "It's up to me to show I'm good enough to stay in there. As I say, last night wasn't good enough.
"I know that myself, but hopefully I will get another chance on Sunday and hopefully I can repay the manager's faith in me."
Smith was delighted to negotiate the potential banana skin at Firhill. "It looked as though it was going to go to penalties and thankfully it didn't," said Smith.
"We got a couple of tough games from Partick last season so we knew it was going to be like that.
"We are delighted to get through and Partick Thistle deserve a great deal of credit for making it a really good cup tie."
Boyd's strike partner Kenny Miller was notable by his absence at Firhill, but Smith confirmed: "He had a slight calf strain, but he will be okay for the weekend."
The full article contains 564 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
