Filed under: Football, Scotland
Old Firm matches always bring out the extremes but, while the three points earned in Rangers' 4-2 defeat of Celtic will prove significant in May, it was perhaps the wider lessons thrown up at Ibrox that could decide the title race.These may be early days but the four-point cushion that Rangers now have over their old foes is already quite a buffer.
Also the nature of Celtic's defeat, throwing away a 2-1 advantage as they were outplayed in the second period, will have a profound psychological effect on both camps.
Tired from their Europa League exertions at Atletico Madrid on Thursday, Neil Lennon's side were blown away by Rangers' energy, and it appears that Celtic's extra commitments will have more of a negative effect than they previously realised.
From their point of view, what is worse is that Neil Lennon simply sounded almost exactly like he did after the 1-0 defeat to St Johnstone in August. Raging? Yes. Constructive? Not particularly.
Lennon, whose explanation of Kris Commons' absence was at odds with the winger's claims, told Sky Sports: "I am angry, full stop, with our overall performance.
"I wouldn't like to question their character but I had to ask that after the game.
"I don't know if there was any fatigue from the game on Thursday night.
"But we were second best a lot of the time and in games of this calibre you have to be physical, you have to win second balls, you have to battle and scrap and there was not a lot of that on show in the second half.
"We didn't compete and it was almost as if the players went out for the second half thinking the game was already won."
Celtic skipper Scott Brown, who was withdrawn in the later stages with a recurrence of his ankle problem, was slightly less downbeat about his team's position.
"It is frustrating that we were in the driving seat then lost two early goals," he said. "They came at us, played better than us and were more composed on the ball.
"But it is early doors in the season and there is still a lot to play for."
Steven Naismith, whose two goals were his first in Old Firm matches, believes Rangers have given themselves the opportunity to drive home their advantage over the coming weeks.
They have dropped just two points in their seven matches so far and Naismith feels Ally
McCoist's team now have the chance to propel themselves away from Celtic.
"Now we need to take that and push on from here because it's just another three points," he told the club's official website.
"The next couple of weeks will be the marker, if we can keep up our performance and have a few more convincing wins.
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