Mark Warburton and co. tasted defeat for the third time against the Hoops this season.
Rangers winger Barrie McKay has attempted to play down the gulf between the Old Firm rivals and insists that they had Celtic on the ropes during their 2-1 defeat, the Daily Record reports.
The Hoops moved 19 points clear of Mark Warburton’s newly promoted Gers as Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair found the net in Saturday’s derby victory, ensuring Kenny Miller’s first-half opener counted for nothing.
Celtic have now beaten Rangers three times in both league and cup this season, including a 5-1 battering back in September, although the story might have been different this time around had the home side taken advantage of their early dominance at Ibrox.
And McKay believes the performance shows that the huge points difference between the Old Firm enemies at the top of the Scottish Premiership table does not accurately reflect the gulf in class between the two sides.
“I don’t think it is as big as people make out. If we took our chances we could have given them a doing,” the 22-year-old, arguably Rangers’ most dangerous attacking player at the weekend, told the Daily Record.
“They took their chances in the last league game and obviously scored five. If we had taken our chances this time and kept them at bay we could have done the same to them.”
Nonetheless, Rangers appear a long way from challenging Celtic for the title at this stage, with Warburton’s squad of free agents and bargain buys from the English lower leagues failing to get anywhere near the quality at Brendan Rodgers’ disposal.
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