Kris Doolan insists Partick Thistle will go for goals again in their cinch Premiership play-off final second leg after their 2-0 win over 10-man Ross County at Firhill.
Jags winger Aidan Fitzpatrick opened the scoring in the ninth minute before 16-year-old Staggies defender Dylan Smith was sent off by referee David Munro eight minutes later for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, after the official upgraded a yellow card to red following the intervention of the VAR Andrew Dallas.
Striker Brian Graham volleyed in a second for the Championship outfit just before the break to give them the advantage for the return game in Dingwall.
Boss Doolan said: “It was a brilliant win for us – but it could have been more.
“If you’d offered us 2-0 before the game, we would obviously have taken your hand off. But it could have been more. To me, it maybe should have been more.
“Part of that is down to Ross County defending well and throwing their bodies on the line.
“Their goalie also made a good save at the end to tip one on to the bar. If we had managed to get a third, it might well have been a different game.
“But we know it’s not over. There’s still another game to be played on Sunday. We only have one way of playing – and we will go out and look to do the same in Dingwall.
“We know that if we can go there and win the game, we will be back in the Premiership.”
Staggies boss Malky Mackay was happy to leave Glasgow only two goals down and retains belief for the second leg.
He said: “We started fairly brightly and created a couple of half chances.
“But we lost a bad goal. It was a great strike from Fitzpatrick but poor defending from our lads that were out facing it.
“I thought we were doing okay at that point but then we lost young Dylan.
“He’s a great kid and has been terrific in his first season as a pro but in retrospect he’s nicked the boy and it was a sending off.
“That obviously gives us a mountain to climb.
“We then lose the goal just before half-time and when I got the boys back inside, I said to them the challenge was to make sure we come out here no worse than two-down.
“I didn’t want us to sink in to our own penalty box as that would have just been carnage. So to see us threaten them a few times was what I needed.
“Second half I was really proud of them and at only two-down, there is plenty to play for on Sunday.”
Marsch, Hasenhuttl or McInnes – who could be in contention for Rangers post?
Rangers are searching for a new manager following the sacking of Michael Beale on Sunday.
Here the PA news agency takes a look at some of the candidates who may be given consideration by the Ibrox hierarchy.
Kevin MuscatThe 50-year-old former Australia defender – who played for Rangers in the 2002-03 season – is currently flourishing in charge of Japanese club Yokohama F. Marinos after succeeding the Celtic-bound Ange Postecoglou in the role in the summer of 2021. Won the Japanese league title last year and his team are currently second, four points off the top with five games to play.
Jesse MarschAs part of the Red Bull group, the 49-year-old American came to prominence when he led Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg – who had Erling Haaland in attack in his first season in charge – to two consecutive league and cup doubles. Renowned for his high-intensity approach, Marsch earned a crack at the Leeds job in February 2022 following the sacking of Marcelo Bielsa and ensured they stayed in the Premier League, but a poor start to his first full season at Elland Road led to him being sacked back in February. Was interviewed about vacancies at Southampton and Leicester earlier this year but remains out of work.
Kjetil KnutsenThe 54-year-old Norwegian has made a name for himself after establishing Bodo/Glimt as one of the top teams in Norway since taking charge in 2018. Led them to their first-ever title win in 2020 and followed up the feat a year later. Currently a point clear at the top of the Eliteserien after 23 games. Has also overseen some impressive European runs over the past three seasons, most notably in the 2021/22 campaign when Bodo/Glimt reached the quarter-finals of the Conference League after defeating Postecoglou’s Celtic 5-1 on aggregate.
Ralph HasenhuttlThe Austrian, 56, is still out of work after losing his job at Southampton a year ago following a poor start to last season. Landing the highly-regarded former RB Leipzig manager would be viewed as something of a coup for Rangers.
Derek McInnesThe 52-year-old former Rangers midfielder turned down the Ibrox job in 2017 while he was on a long and fruitful stint in charge of Aberdeen. Following his departure from Pittodrie, McInnes has done an impressive job with Kilmarnock, leading them from the Championship and re-establishing them in the top flight. He has already overseen victories over both Glasgow sides this season. Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers endorsed him as a potential Ibrox boss in August. “He was very close to getting the Rangers job a few years ago and why couldn’t he manage Rangers?” said Rodgers. “He’s a former player there, a very good player, who was part of a successful era for the club so there’s no doubt that could be one for him in the future because he’s an outstanding manager.”
Michael Beale calls for Rangers unity as he wishes club the best after sacking
Michael Beale wished Rangers well for the future as he issued a social media post within hours of his sacking backing the Ibrox club to get back on track.
The 43-year-old was relieved of his duties as Rangers boss late on Sunday evening following a dismal start to the season.
Three defeats in seven cinch Premiership matches left them third in the league – behind St Mirren – and seven points adrift of city rivals Celtic before the axe fell on the Englishman.
View this post on InstagramA 7-3 aggregate defeat by PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League play-off round in August also helped heighten the pressure on Beale, whose summer rebuild has been widely criticised with a raft of new signings failing to have the desired impact.
Beale was swift to pay tribute to the club despite his sacking, as he took to Instagram in the early hours of Monday morning to wish new caretaker Steven Davis all the best.
“Thank you @RangersFC to everyone behind the scenes at the training ground and Ibrox, to the board, staff, fans and all the players,” he wrote. “I will always follow and support the club from afar and wish you every success.
“Now is the time for everyone to unite fully behind Steven Davis and the team in the coming games.
“There is still so much to play for this season and I have a strong belief in this group of players. Thank you and good luck.”
Beale’s backroom team of Neil Banfield, Damian Matthew, Harry Watling and Jack Ade have also left the club.
Davis, the long-serving former Rangers midfielder, has been placed in interim charge and will assisted be another couple of ex-Gers players in Alex Rae and Steven Smith, as well as coach Brian Gilmour and goalkeeping coach Colin Stewart.
Their first task is to rouse the team following Saturday’s humiliating 3-1 defeat at home to Aberdeen as they prepare to head to Cyprus to face Aris Limassol in the Europa League on Thursday.
Rangers’ next league match is away to second-placed St Mirren on Sunday before the international break brings a fortnight in which they can try to regroup and bed in a new manager.
Kevin Muscat, the former Rangers defender who is currently in charge of Japanese side Yokohama F Marinos, is the early bookmakers’ favourite for the role.
I was a mess – David Beckham lays bare pain he suffered after World Cup red card
David Beckham has revealed he still cannot forgive himself for the abuse his family suffered amid the fallout from his red card at the 1998 World Cup, which left him a “mess”.
A new Netflix documentary series titled ‘Beckham’ is set for release on Wednesday, looking back on the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder’s career as well as his marriage to Spice Girls singer and fashion designer Victoria.
In episode two, titled ‘Seeing Red’, Beckham, now 48, reflected on the “stupid mistake” which changed his life after he was sent off for kicking the back of Diego Simeone’s leg during the last-16 clash against Argentina in Saint-Etienne.
England went on to lose after a penalty shootout and Beckham found himself centre of a backlash – including a pub hanging up an effigy of the midfielder, who received a hostile reception from rival fans around the country when he returned to action for United the following season.
In the documentary, Victoria Beckham said the continued abuse left her husband “absolutely clinically depressed” as the then 23-year-old tried to deal with the fallout alongside becoming a father for the first time in March 1999.
Beckham admitted the saga “took a toll on me that I never knew myself”.
He said: “I wish there was a pill you could take which could erase certain memories. I made a stupid mistake. It changed my life.
“We were in America (on holiday after the World Cup), just about to have our first baby, and I thought, ‘we will be fine. In a day or two people will have forgotten’.”
Beckham added: “I don’t think I have ever talked about it, just because I can’t. I find it hard to talk through what I went through because it was so extreme.
“Wherever I went, I got abused every single day – to walk down the street and to see people look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things they said, that is difficult.
“I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping. I was a mess. I didn’t know what to do.”
Beckham added: “It brought a lot of attention that I would never wish on anyone, let alone my parents, and I can’t forgive myself for that.
“That is the tough part of what happened, because I was the one that made the mistake.
“It is only now that I am 47 years old, it is now that I beat myself up about it (still).
“When I have gone through difficult moments, I was able to block it out, but inside it killed me.”
Beckham spoke of the support he received from then Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the club as he looked to focus on his football.
“That was the only thing I could control – once I was on the pitch, then I felt safe,” Beckham said.
“Anytime I was kicked during that season, it was like the (opposition team) had got two goals.”
Beckham added: “As horrible as it was to look up to Victoria in the stand (getting that abuse), it was the one thing which spurred me on.”
The Netflix documentary also charts Beckham’s triumphant end to the 1998-99 season, which culminated with United having won the Premier League, FA Cup and a memorable Champions League final against Bayern Munich in Barcelona.
With Paul Scholes and Roy Keane suspended, Beckham played an integral role in United’s comeback win, which was secured by two goals in stoppage time.
Reflecting on the match, Ferguson said: “With David, that night there was something inside him saying, ‘I am not going to let this happen’. It was a personal thing that he had in him, that stubbornness and determination.”
Beckham’s former United and England team-mate Gary Neville was an executive producer of the Netflix documentary.
Neville recalled the way he and Beckham were “absolutely destroying teams” down the right flank for United.
“He was with his crossing. I was supporting him in a way which was to be fair, I would say I was a side dish really. Not the beef. I was the mustard on the side,” Neville said.
“I was subservient because I needed David to go and do something magical. He was practicing free-kicks and I was practicing throw-ins.”
Neville added: “It was telepathic on the pitch. Off the pitch as well, I knew where he was in his mind – it was not enough for him, he wanted to be more than a football player.”
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