PEDRO CAIXINHA yesterday accused Scott Brown of elbowing Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos in the face - while warning the Celtic captain he’d not get away with it if he’d been on the park.

The Portuguese manager reacted angrily to Brown’s flailing arm in the direction of Morelos just moments before the half-time whistle during his team’s 2-0 defeat yesterday at Ibrox as the two contested high ball in the middle of the park. The incident went unpunished by referee Craig Thomson.

Seconds later the pair came together in a heated spat on the touchline as both teams left the pitch, with the two having to be separated while Caixinha argued his point.

And the Rangers manager was clearly still far from happy by the time he was asked to discuss the matter post match.

“I was angry at half-time, did you see it? I can tell you because I'm clear and open-minded,” he started. “It's the second time it happened, it was the same in April with the same actor from one team [Brown] and a different actor from the other team [then Kenny Miller, now Morelos].

“I saw an elbow from Brown and I told the fourth official, who was on the same line as me. But the referee let it go.

“Scott Brown was coming off and I told him: “You do that, but if I was on the pitch you wouldn't.”

“I wouldn't have allowed him to put his elbow in my face. If someone does nothing, I have to defend my club, my players and the truth of the game. It's the referee's decision. If he doesn't think it's an action to get booked or sent off, it's his decision. I need to respect it.

“If I was a player and I had to face Brown or players like him, it would be a different thing. My players should not let it happen. You need to mark your presence down there.

“They need to feel your presence. I'm not afraid of nothing – I'm here to defend this club. It was a shame that I couldn't play because I know the mentality I have.

“I didn't hear what Brown said to me when he came off. But my discussion with him is not important. Is this the only moment of the game? No, it was at half-time, not part of the game.”

On to the game, and Caixinha cursed what he described as two key moments that ended up costing his team a shot at at least a draw. While the defending for Tom Rogic’s opener was suspect to say the least as three Rangers players missed the ball, a stunning save from Craig Gordon at the other end to deny Alfredo Morelos paved the way for Leigh Griffiths to grab a decisive second.

“The team who made the least mistakes won today,” explained Caixinha. “I concede that we made two mistakes that led to the final result.

“We never said we'd make a title challenge. We just said we'd take it game by game. That's the reality, we're eight points behind the leader.

“So we need to focus on the next match. And that's very important.

“Because now we're going to see what we're made of. Now we'll see if we react the way we need to or just look around and don't take decisions.

"I'm really looking forward to that."

This was job done for Celtic who now extend their lead at the top of the Premiership table to eight points. Far from their free-flowing best in the first half thanks to Rangers’ intensity, they soon kicked on to head into next week’s Champions League tie away to Anderlecht in a confident and winning frame of mind.

“There’s always tension around these games. You can’t become complacent in these games, anything can happen. Especially when you come into today’s atmosphere,” said Rodgers. “But what you see in my team is that development how to cope. There’s a real courage physically to work and run, but that mental courage to play.

“You’re never in your comfort chair. You’re always focused on the game and we tried to manage the game through with our substitutions and manage the game. I thought the players coped with that very well."

He added: "I don't know [if Rangers are getting closer to Celtic] - that's something for you to decide and write about. We can't win every game by five and six.

"But I think we showed a great level of management today. We knew it was going to be tough.

"Pedro has changed it and brought in a lot of players, a lot of experienced players. Obviously they will believe they can go on and challenge. We had to come here today for the first one of these games of the season and I thought we were absolutely outstanding.”