James Tavernier is aiming to complete his collection of Sottish football’s major trophies when Rangers face Celtic in the Viaplay Cup final on Saturday.
The Ibrox captain already holds a league winners’ medal, and added the Scottish Cup to his CV with last season’s final victory. Now he believes his team can triumph at Hampden on Sunday and allow him to lift the one major trophy he hasn’t had his hands on yet.
“Personally, it would mean completing the set of all three trophies and we’ve got a good opportunity to do that at the weekend,” Tavernier said.
The full-back has seen his team thrive since Michael Beale’s appointment and believes that they are in a position to overcome their city rivals, though he believes there’s still scope for Rangers to up their game.
“Every since the gaffer’s come in we’ve drawn one and won all the rest of the games,” he said. “The momentum has really been there with the results that we wanted.
“We know that performance-wise there’s been games where we felt that we could improve, which is a good thing because we’ve been winning games but still not been at the top level that we need to be.
“There’s room for improvement and we’ll continue to work hard every day on the training ground to show that on a match day and hopefully that all comes into place on Sunday.”
Celtic have an equally impressive record over the timespan since Beale came in, with the only points being dropped by either side when they met each other in a 2-2 draw at Ibrox in January. Tavernier thinks his side could have taken all three points to narrow the gap in the Premiership but says there were encouraging things to build on.
“We really felt we should have come away with the three points,” he said. “But, on saying that, with the game, that happens.
“I thought we could have played better in the first half at Ibrox and the second half we were much better. So we know there is still more to give in a game like that and we came away disappointed that we got the draw. So there’s plenty of positives to take from that.
“We have got a game plan to take into Sunday and as long as we stick to that and apply ourselves from the very first minute and carry it out to the end of the game, then hopefully we will be picking up the trophy.”
The club captain was happy to reflect on last season’s Scottish Cup triumph and said that the winning feeling was something that motivates everyone, and that it was clear to see how much trophy success meant to everyone at the club.
“It’s a true honour and words can’t really describe how much you feel,” Tavernier explained. “You get so much enjoyment.
“And it’s not just myself, it’s obviously the whole team, the fans, everyone’s families who turned up to support.
“You just want to continue to give that. it’s what we all signed up for with Rangers, to win trophies, and we’ll be doing everything possible on Sunday to try and make that happen.”
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