Michael Beale has revealed he was looking to protect Malik Tillman from being tarred as a cheat when he ordered Rangers to let Partick Thistle equalise in yesterday’s drama-filled Scottish Cup clash.
The holders squeezed through to the quarter-final draw with a 3-2 win but only after a moment of mayhem sparked by Tillman’s controversial goal. With the score at 1-1, Jags were planning on returning the ball to the Ibrox hosts after a break in play caused by an injury to the on-loan Bayern Munich kid. But the 20-year-old US international misread the situation and snatched the ball off Kevin Holt before stroking past Thistle keeper Jamie Sneddon.
The incident set off a furious rammy as the outraged Maryhill men rushed to confront Tillman. But calm was soon restored when Beale instructed his team to let Scott Tiffoney run through and cancel out the contentious strike. And the Ibrox boss insists it was never his player’s intention to gain an unfair advantage. He said: "If you watch the whole thing back, Malik gets injured and we play the ball out. Malik is down on the floor and he doesn't see that we have played the ball out.
