BRENDAN RODGERS hailed his "dominant" captain Scott Brown after the midfielder inspired Celtic to the first cup final of the season just seven months after being written off following a defeat to Rangers.

A last minute goal from Moussa Dembele settled an intriguing Old Firm Betfred League Cup semi-final at Hampden, a result which offered some revenge to the Parkhead supporters who witnessed their side falling at the same stage of the Scottish Cup last season.

However, it was the Celtic skipper who would have taken more pleasure from the day than anyone else.

Read more: Celtic leave it late against Rangers - but narrow margin of victory disguises their dominanceThe Herald:

That match in April was when Brown knew he had to change his ways after what has been a dreadful individual performance, and his man of the match display in this 1-0 victory had his manager purring over the 31-year-old’s renascence.

“I think it was after this game last season that people talked about Scott as being finished,” said Rodgers. “But he totally dominated the middle of the field today.

"Firstly, defensively he orchestrated the game but his pressing, pressure and physicality was great. Then we saw his quality too. He makes the team tick and plays the ball forward. He really dominated in there.

Read more: Celtic leave it late against Rangers - but narrow margin of victory disguises their dominance

"I've been made aware since I've been in here that the last game here, the 2-2 game, that Rangers were much the better team.Physically and in every way they were better. Technically they were better.

"But the performance level today - as in the last Celtic Rangers game - was a really top level. They're getting the reward and success for the hard work they're putting in."

Rodgers’s side may have had to wait until almost all the 90 minutes of normal time had come and gone before the winner arrived; however, the Scottish champions were the better side and deserved their win.

Erik Sviatchenko had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside and Rangers goalkeeper Matt Gilks made a number of fine saves, three of them denying Scott Sinclair. Celtic will now face Aberdeen in the final on November 27.

Rodgers said: “Was there a bit of relief when the goal went in? Yeah, because I thought we were very dominant in terms of chances, the power and strength in our performance and the quality of our game.

“Sometimes you never know if the chances don’t go in and you don’t get that bit of luck which is deserving of it, you are open to a counter-attack. But I thought how we went about the game, defensively and tactically first and foremost, was brilliant.

“They tried to build and the intensity of the press and pressure we put onto them was at a high level. Then we had the ball, we created opportunities and looked a real threat going forward."

Rodgers was delighted about how his players were able to raise themselves so soon after the punishing night last Wednesday when they lost to Borrusia Moenchengladback in the Champions League.

“When you consider we were coming off the back of a really tough Champions League game in midweek, every single one of the players deserves great credit for their strength and mentality to get the victory," he said.

"It's been a great start to the season for us. You see the collective mentality and spirit within the team. I know there are areas we need to improve in over time but the players are performing magnificently well and have that hunger to succeed.

"They're playing the game at a real top level tempo both with and without the ball. But in order to rubber-stamp that, you want to win trophies.

"And in order to do that you need to get to the final so we're there now and can put it to bed and concentrate on that in a number of weeks time.

“The performance was the same as the last game against Rangers. It was just the goals (didn’t come). We had that similar performance, but we just didn’t finish the opportunities.

“Some of that was through their goalkeeper touching a ball onto the bar and it coming back to him and I’d need to see the [Erik Sviatchenko] header again. It looked very harsh that it was disallowed. When the ball is coming into the box, both sets of players are always physically trying to command that edge to get a touch on it.

Read more: Celtic leave it late against Rangers - but narrow margin of victory disguises their dominance

“We’d other chances that could have gone in, but didn’t. But, again, it shows the mentality in the team. They kept going, didn’t get disappointed and had great discipline in the game. They got their reward which was thoroughly deserved.”

Rodgers was delighted with the impact made by his substitutes. Stuart Armstrong brought some energy to the midfield and Leigh Griffiths set-up the goal.

“We’ve played a lot of matches this season and because of the way we play at a high level with physicality needed to press and shorten the pitch, when that drops, we needed to reinvigorate the team,” said the Celtic manager.

“Stuart added great power and running ability to the team. Leigh was a real threat. He was disappointed he didn’t score, but he showed his real unselfish nature by guiding it into Moussa’s path and he’s produced a real clever finish for the winning goal.”