Rangers Old Firm goal hero Connor Goldson: 'We did everything right and controlled the game' in win over Celtic

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 17: Connor Goldson celebrates after scoring to make it 2-0 during a Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Rangers at Celtic Park, on October 17, 2020, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Rangers were comfortable in the end to take the first derby match of the season, and of the year 2-0 with both goals coming from the English central defender.

Celtic were limited to no shots on target and Allan McGregor only had to make one intervention – to cut-out a late Leigh Griffiths cut-back – during the win that sends Rangers four points clear of their city rivals.

And Goldson believes the set-up and knowledge of what is expected among the team is what set the Light Blues ahead.

“We’ve worked on this shape for two years now and played some top teams in the same way and worked hard on it and the new lads have bought in to it. In big games it seems to work for us, we know what we’re doing and we’ve been doing it for a long time and working on it in training for a long time, so it worked and limited them to not many chances.

“It’s a massive win. Old Firm games always are massive games.

“We knew we had to start well and score first and defend well at times because we know they are a good team.

“I thought we did everything right and controlled the game well. We defended well in our box, limited the chances and got two goals."

Both came from Goldson, first a header to convert James Tavernier’s ninth-minute free-kick past Vasilis Barkas then a scrambled second after Shane Duffy’s initial block.

“I’ve never scored in this game before and I was happy with the first goal but with the second I was happier - at 1-0 anything can happen and 2-0 settles it down.

“After we scored in the first half we defended a little bit deeper and didn’t play the way we had been before the goal. After the second you saw us at our best in the game, keeping the ball and on the counter attack, we did really well.”

The focus now for Rangers is to continues the momentum. They’re now four points clear of Celtic at the top of the table, but Neil Lennon’s side have a game in hand handing them the possibility of cutting the gap back down to just one point.

After the last win at their rivals’ ground – indeed the last Old Firm meeting before this afternoon – Rangers faltered on the domestic front and failed to register consecutive wins in the league until its’ restart this season, as Goldson admitted.

He added: “We didn’t do ourselves justice after we won here the last time, and after the break we were poor, we didn’t look half the team we were before the break and hopefully this gives us confidence to put a run together.

But, speaking on Sky Sports, he cautioned: “It’s still so early in the season. We’re 11 games into the season and have the European game on Thursday then we’re at home next weekend and we just need another three points and keep progressing as much as we can.”