Michael Beale has said Malik Tillman was “completely unaware” of any wrongdoing in his controversial goal in Rangers’ incident-packed 3-2 Scottish Cup win over Partick Thistle at Ibrox. The drama came after Rangers had put the ball out for Tillman to receive treatment for an injury. Partick’s captain, Kevin Holt, was preparing to hit a long ball from the throw-in back to Rangers but Tillman robbed him and ran through to round the goalkeeper and put his team 2-1 up, sparking Thistle fury and a melee. Beale instructed his players to allow Scott Tiffoney to run up the pitch and equalise and he was glad to get the winner with four minutes of normal time remaining when Connor McAvoy headed into his own net under pressure from James Sands. He said Tillman, on loan from Bayern Munich, was innocent. “Malik gets injured and we play the ball out,” he said. “Malik is down on the floor and he doesn’t see that we have played the ball out. So by the time Malik gets up, he sees they have a throw-in and he puts his hand up to the referee as if to say: ‘How have they got a throw?’ and then he presses as he has been taught. “He is completely unaware of the situation, of what has happened. I had to speak to my bench to make sure that is what they saw as well. Malik came over and I spoke to him and he confirmed it. So it [allowing Thistle to level] was the right thing to do. I will tell you why it was the right thing to do. Malik Tillman is a fantastic young player and I don’t want that hanging around his head. “He has never cheated anyone in his life and as a football club we have high standards. We don’t need to do that to beat Partick Thistle at home. It is not an easy thing to ask footballers to do because they haven’t seen it but it was the right thing to do. “For everything I want to stand for as a club and what I want to stand for and also for protecting a fantastic young player from having something thrown at him which I won’t allow.” Thistle’s manager, Ian McCall, said: “I’ve been in football since 1981 and I’ve never seen anything like it before.” He believes Beale showed class with his action and added: “From my point of view Malik Tillman didn’t really realise what was going on. I don’t blame the referee because I’m not sure he can stop it.” Holt had given the Championship side a shock lead with a penalty after 35 minutes before Antonio Colak levelled soon after the break and Thistle’s goalkeeper, Jamie Sneddon, saved a James Tavernier penalty. McCall was sacked by Partick Thistle after the defeat having seen his side take one win from their last six games in all competitions.