Gerrard refuses to blame a title hangover for Scottish Cup defeat

shot-stopper

Zander Clark

pulled off some great saves for his side in the battle against

. The 28-year-old provided an assist for

Chris Kane

’s equalizer. The penalty shoot-out was an exciting Scottish Cup thriller since

James Tavernier

’s goal was canceled out and the Saints became the first team to triumph at Ibrox in the 2020-21 season.

Rangers have been trying to find their best form since being named the league champions last month, and have now exited both the Europa League and the Scottish Cup.

However,

Steven Gerrard

believes that the blame can not be pinned on a title win.

"

I think it's the easy way out, a cop-out, for us to use excuses from three or four weeks ago,"

he said.

"We felt fantastic back then and there was a lot of relief and emotions. Rightly so, we deserved that.

"But I made it clear the Scottish Cup was a priority and we needed to keep hungry. A lot of this game was alright. We had the best chances but you need to take them, or you get stung at the end of games.

"Credit to St Johnstone, they got one moment and then it was on to penalties. We need to take responsibility for this and we need to be better in cup competitions moving forward.

"We have never said we are the finished article. We always have one eye on how we can improve.

"That goes for me as well. I am really disappointed with how this has ended and I will reflect on how I can get this group better.

"We need to be better prepared for cup competitions moving forward and we will be back stronger next season.

"But there will be no shying away from us taking that responsibility and I see loads of areas where we can improve. We will keep striving to do that."

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