Rangers manager Derek McInnes celebrated his first ever Old Firm victory as his side produced a dominant derby dismantling of Celtic, making it five wins on the spin in all competitions.
The triumph came just 17 days after Rangers were dumped out of the Conference League by Jablonec, a result that left the team red faced in Europe. McInnes was in no mood to dwell on that night when the subject was raised, growling: "Seriously, why are you pissing on my chips?"
Transformation since European exit
The meek mess of a team that was bounced out by the Czechs has been transformed into a physically imposing group that runs for one another, all in the space of little more than a fortnight. Rangers now have a Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Aberdeen to look forward to in six weeks' time.
Reflecting on the Jablonec defeat, McInnes said: "When we look back, it's the one defeat we have had in the last eight games and it was a sore one. The performance that night was in complete contrast to today. We delivered such a lacklustre performance, a performance that I wouldn't want to put my name to and I had to deal with that.
"I know the consequence of that. But we have to say, we didn't look ready. We didn't look ready as a club to deliver that and we should have been. So there's a shared responsibility that. Obviously, the majority of responsibility lies with me. But the performance today was exactly what was required."
Standout performers
Dan Neil took the main share of the plaudits after scoring two fine goals against Martin O'Neill's side. James Penrice shut down the threat of Benjamin Nygren, marking the Dane out the game, while Olwethu Makhanya impressed at the back. Up front, Ryan Naderi linked well with Kevin Kelsy, who scored Rangers' second.
McInnes said: "Obviously Dan's going to get highlighted for his goals. His two goals were brilliant, different types of finishes. He gets the light shining on a wee bit today because of the goals. But I thought his performance was really strong as well. As was Nico Raskin and James Penrice in there. I thought the three of them were terrific."
The decision to shift Penrice from left-back into midfield gave Rangers a platform to build. McInnes explained: "Obviously you've got an idea of how you want your game to play. For us to tap into having 50,000 here, I thought we had to set up in a way where we were trying to get two strikers close together.
"I knew wee James could do it. I spoke to him at length over the last couple of days, and I know he's just a good footballer. It's alright if you have an idea in my head, and how you want to do things, but you still need your players to deliver the right performance."
Naderi and Makhanya impress
Naderi had a fitness doubt before the game but led the line effectively alongside Kelsy. McInnes said: "I thought with Naderi, it was a good a game in a Rangers shirt as he's had, certainly from my time. He had a fitness doubt yesterday. We had a dead leg thing going on. I spoke to him yesterday but he still felt that maybe it wasn't going to be good enough to function properly today.
"I hate to think there would be a Rangers player that didn't play in an Old Firm game with a dead leg! But his performance was really strong. He works and works and works."
Makhanya, one of six derby debutants in McInnes' line-up, showed the poise of a player with far more experience. McInnes said: "He's been sensational. It is tough to single out anybody, I know that. The bigger the game, the bigger the performance. He was absolutely first class. We asked a lot of him. We started him left of a three three, and he ended up right back. And wherever I play him, for somebody so young, there's a trust.
"I need to be able to trust my players. And I feel as though I can trust him. And I think he's been almost faultless really since he came into the building."
McInnes acknowledged his team will need to be better again next week if they are to repeat this triumph over Celtic, and warned that criticism will return if they do not win next Sunday. He said: "I just feel for this young team it's important that they take the good from the game. Use it is a reference that we're trying to work to get better performances on a more consistent basis. But we look as if we are up and running now and hopefully we can get improvements."
