James Tavernier clear Rangers cannot afford to ease up in title battle
James Tavernier will work hard to ensure there is no let-up at Rangers after they closed the gap on William Hill Premiership leaders Hearts to four points with a 3-0 win over Dundee.
The Gers skipper scored his 100th league goal for the Light Blues with a penalty at Ibrox just after the interval before substitutes Danilo and Djeidi Gassama struck in added time to seal an eighth successive win in all competitions.
The Jambos’ 2-2 draw with Celtic at Tynecastle meant Rangers leapfrogged the Hoops by two points to sit on the shoulder of Hearts, who were 13 points clear when Danny Rohl took over from Russell Martin in the Ibrox dugout in October.
Tavernier, who said he was “proud” of his goal milestone, said Rangers had to ensure they keep the heat on in the title race.
He said: “It was obviously early days in the league and it’s a long season.
"You’ve always got to back yourselves no matter what, doing that by winning games.
“I said earlier in the season that we have to have that consistency and I believe we’ve started that and really shown our potential and it just has to continue. We’ve been in this position before in January where we’ve been ahead and then let it slip, so we can’t afford that.
“It’s my responsibility and the senior lads to keep everyone on their toes and really focus on what we need to do. You can tell that the confidence is growing.
“The start of the season was obviously not what we expected, but it’s a credit to everyone who’s been involved in the turnaround, the mentality of everyone to really knuckle down and look in the mirror and focus on ourselves and get the wins we need.
“Sometimes it’s not been pretty and to win games and be in contention for titles you always have to find a way to win. I think we are doing that well.
“We obviously want the games to look more comfortable, but we’re finding ways to win and the best thing is that we’re keeping clean sheets as well. We just need to continue this hard work.
“If we keep doing what we’ve been showing, there’s every chance of that (winning the league), but it has to be consistent, we have to keep doing it week in, week out.”
Tavernier added: “We have the Porto game (a Europa League dead rubber on Thursday) and then it’s obviously a tough game against Hibs, so we have got to get three points there.”
Tavernier, who won the league with the Govan club in 2021, knows Rangers have to maintain their momentum.
He said: “It’s about consistency, keep pushing each other.
“We can enjoy Sunday, enjoy those eight games that we’ve won, but it means nothing if we don’t put in a performance next weekend.
“So we have to keep putting in performances, finding ways to win.
“We want to win comfortably, but we know games are going to be tough and will have their different challenges, so we’ve got to stand up to that.”