‘We beat ourselves’ – Derek McInnes rues Rangers’ defensive failings

Derek McInnes claimed Rangers beat themselves in surrendering an early Europa League lead to lose 2-1 to Jagiellonia Bialystok in Poland.

The 55-year-old’s first European tie as Gers boss got off to a perfect start in the first leg of the third qualifier when home defender Guilherme Montoia turned a Tuur Rommens cross into his own net after just four minutes.

However, Kajetan Szmyt levelled in the 13th minute, then added a second eight minutes later after more defensive slackness in the Light Blues’ ranks.

McInnes told RangersTV: “Brilliant start. I thought we had good moments in that opening period.

“Quite assured in what we’re trying to do, everything we were kind of looking for was there, but we gave up too many chances.

“Two mistakes for the goals and it allows us to lose an element of control of the game.

“The simplicity of what we wanted to do was there at times, and then we complicated it.

“So for me, we beat ourselves tonight, it’s not good enough.”

The Gers boss brought on Cammy Devlin, Nico Raskin and Findlay Curtis for the second half, which brought improvement, with the latter striking the post in added time, but McInnes now needs to see his side improve further to turn the tie around next week at Ibrox, where a meeting with Larne or Iberia Tbilisi awaits the winners.

“I know it’s a two-leg thing and we don’t go and throw the kitchen sink at it, because we know we can win the game next week at Ibrox and we had chances,” he said. “We were better second half, and we get a clean sheet second half which we were looking for.

“But there’s still too many times when we lose the ball in promising situations, in and around their box, and it still becomes a chance for the opposition, and that can’t be right.

“And that, for me, is lack of organisation, lack of talking, lack of anticipation, and it has to improve. I am not going to watch us give up so many chances through our own mistakes and through our own efforts.

“So, yes, there’s some positives, but we’re not here to get pats on the back for a second-half performance.

“And there was the elements of the game where we were okay and I do believe we can win the game next week and get through, but we have got to stop giving teams too much encouragement, and that’s on us. We beat ourselves tonight.”

Before the second leg, Rangers face Hibernian in the William Hill Premiership at Ibrox on Sunday and the former Hearts boss said: “I think we will get better as we go along.

“And then playing with that competitive edge tonight will make us better for Sunday, and then for the second leg, but we’ve put ourselves in a position where we need a big performance next week at Ibrox.”