Ex-Celtic star: It's '˜rubbish' to say Rangers are still miles behind

Charlie Nicholas insists it's 'rubbish' to say Celtic are still 'miles ahead' of Rangers after Sunday's Old Firm encounter.

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The hosts won the match by a single Olivier Ntcham goal, though they could have defeated their rivals by a few more as they struck the woodwork three times and forced Allan McGregor into some strong saves.

The manner of the defeat has led some to denounce Rangers’ improvement under Steven Gerrard, with the Ibrox men sitting in the bottom six having won only once in their opening four league games.

Celtic won Sunday's Old Firm clash 1-0 at Parkhead. Picture: SNS

Nicholas, however, believes the new manager has the Light Blues trending in the right direction and it’ll be a much sterner test when the two sides meet at Ibrox later this year.

Writing in his column for the Daily Express, he said: “To say Celtic are still miles ahead is rubbish. They should have put the game to bed but Rangers were never out of it, no matter how average they played.

“Were Rangers scared? I don’t think so. They are trying to become winners again and that takes time and a bit of tinkering.

“Rangers will improve by the next game at Ibrox and I believe they will have the momentum by that point.”