Rangers 3-3 Celtic (4-5 pens): So close, yet so far

Oh well, Rangers slipped to defeat on penalties at Hampden in the League Cup final after a 3-3 draw. It's hard to be objective about a game when the result doesn't go your way, especially an Old Firm and a cup final. But I'm going to try and look at the game in it's entirety.

Pre-game, the line up was a bit of a surprise as most of us expected one of Bajrami/Hagi to start, but both names appeared on the team sheet.

I thought we started the half well, we've struggled to set any kind of tone in the opening exchanges in Old Firms under Clement. There was a clear message to the team to be physically competitive and force Celtic to play in congested areas.

It was refreshing to see us winning the ball and going forward early, but we were also rushing things. Diomande was at fault a few times but Cerny was the biggest culprit for giving the ball away needlessly in the first quarter of the game or so.

Both teams had some sloppy moments in possession. And I did wonder if anyone would actually gain control of the game.

The biggest moment from Celtic was a chance for Kuhn. A ball in behind had Propper scrambling, Kuhn sent him for a pint of milk, stepped inside but maybe hesitated for a split second which allowed Butland to charge out and smother the German wingers effort. Butland recovered to save Hatates follow-up strike, but it was a scare.

Sadly the team looked to be effected by that chance, we started to play a bit more negatively, going back to Butland, going long and then having to defend. We defended quite well certainly, but that's not how you win games.

Slowly we grew in confidence and pushed a little bit higher up the park. Had some half chances once we got forward. It was a positive response after a tough spell.

Then the decisive moment in the half came. Celtic dallied, Taylor played it across the back line, Bajrami pounced, played in Igamane whose shot was saved and the Albanian was there to tap home the rebound.

It was a goal that came from our excellent pressing shape and good endeavour from the forwards. Celtic looked shocked, I felt a bit shocked aswell.

We followed up the goal by giving away several free kicks and looking under pressure.

Half time came and went and Celtic had brought on Scales for Trusty with a few of giving them someone more comfortable on the ball at the back. It was clear extremely early in the half that Celtic were targeting Jefte who was booked in the first half and had lost his firm grip on Kuhn.

Rangers should have gone 2 up though, another chance came from good pressing, but with a 3 on 1 in our favour, Bajrami's cut back to find Cerny was blocked. It was a massive moment.

Ridvan should have been introduced earlier, Celtic got a corner after getting in behind Jefte, Taylor shot from the edge and a deflection took it past Butland for the leveller. It was a moment that flattened us a little. A change was needed as the momentum had shifted, we struggled to keep the ball and it was a poor moment between Raskin and Balogun that led to Maeda getting on goal and suddenly we were 2-1 down.

Clement threw Ridvan into the fray to settle us down, and it worked which made it even more frustrating that we'd waited so long before making that substitution.

I fully expected Celtic to carry on and smash a few more goals in. We lost Balogun to injury and Sterling was introduced, who I thought did very well to deputise for the big Nigerian.

Slowly though, we started to pile on the pressure looking for an equaliser, I said to my brother that there was a goal in this game for us. The goal came from Diomande, fresh from stinging Schmeichel's palms with a great effort, on the resulting corner, Igamane found him on the corner of the 6 yard box, he held off the defender before striking it beyond the grasping Dane in nets.

2-2 and it felt like we had the momentum. Instead the game got very stretched very quickly. Clement eventually opted to introduce Danilo for Bajrami, it was good to see us go for the game. So of course we promptly conceded at the other end, Raskin was a bit unlucky to see a pass deflected off him that then deceived Ridvan. Celtic had men over, it was cut back and Kuhn put them 3-2 up with only a few minutes to play.

I thought that was it, it really seemed that way. But then we went forward again, Cerny found Danilo with a great cross and the scores were level again.

The game went to extra time and it got away from us a little. We simply don't have the depth in squad to match Celtic in these contests. They brought on several subs, we eventually had to introduce Kieron Dowell for Vaclav Cerny, what a drop off.

It's not outrageous to say we limped to penalties by the end. It had been a mammoth effort, especially from Raskin and Diomande in midfield. Then it was down to penalties to settle the league cup.

No need to relive the shoot out, but we lost as you'll know. Ridvan's poor effort was saved and that was all she wrote for this Old Firm game.

That was a positive performance, more so than our 3-3 draw at Ibrox last season. The first half was a great blue print for how to limit Celtic's ability to penetrate between the lines. We were slow to react to Celtic's shift in emphasis, but once the necessary adjustments we did very well to fight back and force Celtic into their own area for long stretches of the game.

Wasn't a perfect performance by any means, but it shows that in terms of starting 11s, we are closer than previously thought. To compete on more than a one-off basis we need to see some moves in January.

It feels cruel to lose on penalties, but the players can take some pride from that game and hopefully use it to fuel this continued momentum.