Rangers’ winless Scottish Premiership start to the season continued in a spirited but goalless Old Firm stalemate with blunt Celtic.
This was a nervy, error-strewn derby between two sides who failed to produce any genuine moments of quality, with howls of home frustration greeting a video assistant referee (VAR) decision to rule out John Souttar’s first-half header for the hosts.
What the match lacked in panache it made up for in energy and endeavour. How Ibrox screamed for an early penalty when visiting defender Liam Scales appeared to barge into Rangers’ debut boy Bojan Miovski. The only nonchalant figure in the ground, referee Don Roberston, was unmoved.
While the majority of the pressure pre-match was on under-fire Rangers head coach Russell Martin, it was another flat, limp, toothless first 45 from Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic who couldn’t even register a shot, never mind a shot on target.
The home side avoided the silly mistakes that have scarred some of their performances so far this season, and that was enough to contain their toothless opponents.
Not making a mistake is a fairly low bar, but Rangers are taking baby steps at the moment under new ownership and new management.
Sensing the Rangers fans were close to their pain threshold given the winless start to the league season, manager Martin was perhaps more pragmatic and risk-averse against his city rivals.
However, it means after four games his side sit in sixth, six points behind Celtic.