Derek McInnes 'disappointed' his team let lead slip in Rangers defeat

Derek McInnes was left disappointed that his side never took anything from their game against Rangers despite taking an early lead.

The Kilmarnock manager admits that individual moments of brilliance from James Tavernier, Jack Butland and Tom Lawrence was the difference between the teams but insists that, other than that, they matched the league leaders all over the park.

And he says the disappointment from his players that they never got at least a point from the 2-1 loss on Wednesday night shows how far they have come in the last couple of seasons.

Killie now sit 12 points adrift of third placed Hearts and a single point ahead of fifth placed St Mirren with Rangers retaining their two point lead over Celtic at the top.

Speaking to the press after the game, McInnes said: “I’m disappointed we never took anything from it.

“In terms of getting a good start in the game, I haven’t seen the handball, I’m assuming it was a penalty because no one has told me otherwise, but it certainly was a good and an encouraging start from us.

“It wasn’t our first attack either, we had two or three good moments in the early part of the game, we tried to get after Rangers and unsettle them as we didn’t want them playing their normal game.

“We get the goal and we probably could have scored another two in that first-half, and that for me was very important. We spoke at half-time about the importance of getting the next goal and we started like a train after the break.

“We had good moments and a created a couple of chances.

“But the games comes down to moments. In terms of performance there was nothing between us and Rangers tonight.

“In terms of performances it was scrappy at times, we fought toe-to-toe with them and we were good at certain moments.

“But Butland’s save at 1-0 just confirms how good he is. That’s why he is probably going to the Euros. That was a huge moment for Rangers in the context of the game.

“Tavernier’s free kick at first I thought had gone around the wall and was blaming my goalie and shouting at my goalie coach but the height he got to get it up and over the wall was top class.

“He does that time and time again for Rangers. And for their second goal the ball breaks to Tom Lawrence and it was an unbelievable strike.”

“It’s that second goal that bugs me because when you lose a goal against the likes of Rangers you have to take a breath and pull yourself together again.

“But it’s a huge sign of how far we’ve come when you see the disappointment in that dressing room that we haven’t taken something from the game.”

Kilmarnock face a trip to Dundee when they back to action on Saturday afternoon.