Brendan, how did you view that game today?

We’re obviously disappointed with the result. Maybe a draw is a fair result. But, yeah, we give credit to Rangers, they win the game.

We didn’t start, you know, inside the first five minutes. Our idea was to make a quick start. We conceded a poor goal. I think all three goals, in all fairness, are from positions that we should be in control of.

I thought, first half, not so good. Second half, we get the early goal. Really good goal.

From that, it looks like we’re the team in the ascendency and can go on and win the game, get to two each.

It was a good feeling, and good energy in the stadium. I just hoped for us to go on and make the next steps to get the goal.

I think Jack Butland made some great saves throughout the day. But if you can’t win it, don’t lose it. Unfortunately, we make a mistake towards the end of the game and the striker finishes it really well.

So, really disappointing.

How surprised were you by, especially the first half performance, where you looked quite far off your normal standards?

Yeah, I think we missed Callum McGregor today. I don’t think there was any doubt in that.

I mentioned before the tactical balance he gives the team. He’s the guy that opens up everything for us. His movement, his quality, his touch, gets us through the pitch nice and quickly.

So you could see it wasn’t anywhere near as fluid. That’s the reality. We have to step up with other players, because if he’s not playing, then we need to be better.

Brendan, you made a point there that all three goals, you’re in control of the situation. There are guys there who think we’d be able to handle those situations. What kind of happens to make so many mistakes all come together like that?

Just clarity of thinking. It’s, like you said, the corner we’re in a good position. And Nico Raskin, he’s done it a few times. He’s quick across the ground, gets the contact, but we’re goal side and we have to deal with that better.

The second one, again, the ball goes back. And then we’ve got to open up the pitch quicker. We end up, it goes out for a throw-in for them. So we’re in control of that.

And then, the third one, it was punted up the pitch, we missed the first header, slipped. And then, in fairness, the guy finishes it really well. But we can deal with those things much better.

So, yeah, it’s just one of those days that you have sometimes.

That’s three goals conceded in each of the three previous derby matches, is that a worrying pattern for you in this fixture?

Yeah, that’s something to think about for sure.

I mentioned that afterwards. You need to be better. You need to be defensively much better, much more secure. I think also part of that comes from the ball.

If you give the ball away and you’re not dominating it like we do, you hand a little bit of onus in the opposition. But ultimately, all three goals today were disappointing goals.

Brendan, it’s a difficult game for Maik Nawrocki to come into, given his lack of game time. How do you feel he coped and performed?

I thought he done really well. I said that to him afterwards in the changing room. There weren’t too many highlights for us. But certainly for him, for a guy that’s not played virtually for a year, it shows you how well he’s trained and how professional he’s been. So I thought he done really, really well to last the game.

Does the gap have an effect on the intensity and your sharpness on the ball?

It can’t do. It can’t do. There’s no excuse. If it’s one point gap or 16 or whatever it is, there’s no excuse. There’s no excuse.

We didn’t defend well enough. We weren’t sharp enough. A good team can punish you.

We had a much better second half. It looked like the flow of the game, we got the goal. It feels like a matter of time.

But like I say, you shouldn’t then lose the game from that position.

I don’t know if it’s serious, but after the winning goal, were you aware of what was going on down the other end of the track from you? There were a couple of Rangers players that seemed to skoosh water towards the Celtic fans?

I didn’t see it. I think I went to the screen just to have a look at the goal.