Michael Beale demands more from Rangers as Kilmarnock half time reaction branded the 'worst' since he returned

Michael Beale has always said this Rangers squad needs renovation work. And that’s why their win over struggling Kilmarnock at Ibrox yesterday felt like it was merely papering over the cracks.

For 45 minutes, his players had their minds on the job. Goals from Connor Goldson and Fashion Sakala, along with a James Tavernier penalty, gave them the perfect foundation to build on. But Beale has barely been able to get a full shift out of this group since his return to the club.

Even in an impressive winning league run, they’ve only turned on the style in spurts. After the break here they clocked off, got lazy and put their feet up. And that could have resulted in Rangers not getting the full reward for their earlier efforts. When Killie upped the tempo at 3-0 down, Beale’s men struggled to cope. Jeriel Dorsett’s goal gave the home side a fright and Killie had appeals for a penalty.

Gers’ response did nothing to appease disgruntled fans who had already had a direct dig at the Ibrox board with a banner. Beale admits he was shocked by the second-half show after a dominant opening period.

He said: “That’s probably the worst reaction we’ve had from the players in our time. They have to talk to each other on the pitch. They can’t always hear me out there.

“It wasn’t just one player, we were giving away the ball unopposed. We’ll talk about it in the week but after the last few days I’ll take the first half. There was good energy about us (in the first 45 minutes).

“We started slowly but were worthy of being 3-0 up. We showed it in flashes and the first half was as dominant as we could be.”

Beale was also impressed by Antonio Colak’s display after he had struggled to fit into the new manager’s side. Beale said: “Tony was our best