Aidan aiming to exorcise Rangers guilt against Falkirk

Gutted Aidan Nesbitt admitted he was left with an agonising feeling of guilt over his missed opportunity against Rangers last Sunday – but hopes to exorcise that regret against Falkirk.

With the score tied at 1-1 in the William Hill Scottish Cup fifth round tie at Ibrox, the Celtic loanee was presented with a great chance to fire Morton back in front but scooped his shot over the bar.

Winger Nesbitt apologised to his Ton team-mates for his failure to convert whilst in the dressing room after the game and says he is still hurting on a personal level.

However, the 20-year-old feels he can put it to bed with a positive performance against the Bairns in tomorrow’s Ladbrokes Championship clash at Cappielow.

He told gmfc.net: “I thought we pushed Rangers until the last minute of the game, and in the last 15 minutes especially we were the better team.

“We went 1-0 up and then conceded a couple of slack goals. For a spell they were the better team and we got it back again, but couldn’t find the goal again. But overall I think we can take confidence out of the game

“Obviously I missed an absolute sitter and we had a chance at the end of the game to equalise. I was devastated with my miss – it was a great opportunity to score and I fluffed my chance.

“I took my touch and didn’t get it out from my feet far enough, and I didn’t know how much time I had to take another touch or not; I didn’t realise the time I had and took it too early.

“After that I took about five minutes to try and get it out of my head, but I think I got it out of my head. I got a couple of touches, kept the ball and did well, and that got it to the back of my mind again and got into my stride again.

“But you still feel majorly guilty after the game. I went into the dressing room and I remember apologising to all the boys for not scoring. They all told me to keep my head up.

“I just need to get that behind me now and concentrate on the next game. A good performance and a goal against Falkirk tomorrow would definitely get the confidence back up.”

Taking the miss aside, Nesbitt caused Rangers problems over the course of the afternoon and provided the assist for Michael Tidser’s goal, and he was generally satisfied with his all-round contribution, particularly playing up through the middle.

He added: “I led the line at Ibrox which was quite an unfamiliar role to me. If I’m being honest, I remember thinking that I did do well, but that disappointed me more that I missed that chance.

“When I looked back and really reflected on it, not straight after the game but when I had more time to think about it, I did play well and made it hard for Rangers.

“It’s hard when you’re up there yourself, especially at Ibrox, and I do think I made it hard for them and obviously got the assist. Overall, if I did score it would have probably been the performance of my life so far.”

Jim Duffy’s men beat the Bairns 2-0 in a Scottish Cup tie here on Sinclair Street just last month and Nesbitt is looking for a repeat performance when they return on league duty this weekend.

He concluded: “We’re definitely looking forward to tomorrow. We need to keep looking forward and not look back, and if we look at the position in the league, we’re doing really well.

“We’re strong, and we’re confident going into the game Saturday looking to get the three points. Obviously if we could get the three points, we would put ourselves on a good pedestal again.

“We did really well against them the last time, in the cup, and if we put in a similar performance and work as hard as we did that day then I’m sure it can be a similar outcome.”

 

Images: David Bell