Dan Neil Explains How Rangers Thrived at Celtic Park

Following two consecutive dominating displays over Celtic this month, Rangers will certainly go into the international break with increased confidence levels.

The Gers' first Old Firm victory this season secured their place in the semi-finals of the Scottish League Cup, where they will take on Aberdeen at Hampden Park next month.

Now with their latest victory over the Celts, Derek McInnes' side have reduced their deficit in the Scottish Premiership to just two points as they sit second in the league table with 16 points from seven games.

But the fact that the Teddy Bears came out victorious inside an all-green and white Celtic Park makes it even more special, as the visitors seemingly played off the frustrations of the home crowd.

Quite astonishingly, this was the game plan going into the second Glasgow derby of the month for Dan Neil and co.

While speaking to Premier Sports Scottish Football Social Club, the Gers' captain explained how his side were able to keep their nerves on the occasion, saying, "In terms of the atmosphere, we had to try and use it to our advantage as well and frustrate the Celtic fans.

"Out of possession, whether it was going man for man or sitting in the block and closing the middle of the pitch, everyone did fantastic. And you could feel a sense of frustration in the stadium, and we had to keep playing off that."

Rangers' performance at Parkhead was close to perfect, with the Hoops failing to capitalize on home advantage without any away fans inside the stadium.  

Despite Celtic enjoying more ball possession, McInnes' men made the most changes during the crucial encounter.

The Gers took 15 shots towards Vijlami Sinisalo's goal, compared to five from the Celts, and eight of those 15 hit the target.

Martin O'Neill's men failed to put pressure on the Light Blues' defense as the likes of Dan Neil and Nicolas Raskin provided the perfect buffer ahead of Olwethu Makhanya and Emmanuel Fernandez.

As the game entered its final phases, the frustration grew worse inside Celtic Park, giving the Gers what they actually came for.

O'Neill's attempt to change the course of the match during the second half was of no use in front of Rangers' resilience on the evening.

The Light Blues seemingly operated as a unit, helping each other out defensively, giving nothing away for the likes of Benjamin Nygren and Camilo Duran to feed on.

With yet another convincing display, the Gers are now perfectly on track after a slow start to the season.

They have now won six games straight in all competitions, while keeping a clean sheet in five of them.