"Georgios (Samaras) has been playing very well," he pointed out. "I've got three good strikers and he's justified his selection. If you look at the last five games I think Jan (Vennegoor of Hesselink) and Georgios have scored more than Scott. He handled the decision very, very well, like a man."

Strachan continued: "The more balanced person, without an agenda, would say that we did enough to either win the game or at least not get beat.

"But that's life. In Rangers-Celtic games since I've been here the team that scores the first goal doesn't get beat. Our failing the last couple of weeks is scoring goals and its come back to bite us today.

"The first goal energised Rangers for the first 10-15 minutes of the second half. We should have defended at the goal a bit better. I think it was too easy.

"There's one or two things we have to tidy up on, but overall I liked what I saw in the first half. We were composed and brave, and for a team chasing our rivals I thought it was a right good show."