James Tavernier thanks Rangers pals for 'digging me out' after botched pen as Connor Goldson gets special praise

James Tavernier sent his spot kick in to orbit but the Rangers captain reckons the character shown by the Ibrox squad to bail him out was out of this world.

The skipper uncharacteristically skied a first half penalty and it looked like rivals Celtic were going to open up some serious space at the top of the Premiership going in to the International break.

But it was lift off after the interval as Gio van Bronckhorst’s men changed in the entire atmosphere by getting the job done on a day when the result could have easily drifted.

The 150th anniversary white kits might have ended up with a few embarrassing stains on the back and ended up being launched in to the bin alongside the infamous lilic effort from the 90s.

Tavernier blazed from the spot but he also led from the front – and he was a relived man to avoid paying the penalty for his miss thanks to Aaron Ramsey's first goal fo the club and Connor Goldson’s late winner.

The captain said: “I obviously tried to better my one here last week and go top corner.

“I probably leaned back on it too much, but you are always going to miss some. I always focus on putting it the back of the net next time, keeping my head and carrying on with the game.

“The boys dug me out and I was delighted.”

Rangers had to do it the hard way – yet again.

The Light Blues have had a habit of going behind this season but there are none better at repairing the damage.

Tavernier admitted it takes guts to get the glory at this stage of the season and he hailed his teammates for refusing to accept a bad day at the office.

Rangers were fairly woeful in the opening period at Dens after going behind to a shock opener.

Van Bronckhorst’s side failed to muster a shot on target – including the