PANTOMIME villain Leigh Griffiths declared Celtic controlled the Old Firm match from start to finish on what was a hostile afternoon for the Parkhead forward.

After playing his part in the build up to the first goal and then irking the home support with a kick at Josh Windass, Griffiths popped up on 66 minutes to slam home the decisive second for the visitors at Ibrox to kill off Rangers.

Never a shrinking violet in these games, Griffiths celebrated his goal with gusto. Wheeling away towards the Sandy Jardine Stand waving a green-and-white scarf, he was soon joined by captain Scott Brown in front of an irate Rangers crowd, meeting their jeers with a grin on his face.

By the time he strolled into the Ibrox press room about 45 minutes later, it hadn’t moved.

“They like to pipe up a bit,” joked Griffiths. “Listen, I enjoyed my goal – you need to celebrate any goal you score. I was delighted with it. You need to enjoy those moments. It’s a derby at the end of the day and I’m sure if Rangers players had scored at Celtic Park they would do the exact same thing.

“I enjoyed my goal – 2-0, clean sheet, three points and we’ll go down the road and look forward to Wednesday [Champions League away game against Anderlecht] now.

“I think we controlled the game from start to finish. 0-0 was not a bad scoreline to go in with at half time and we knew going into the second half that our legs would be better than theirs.”

As much as the Rangers crowd didn’t approve of Griffiths’ swipe at Windass – it came as the two chased a dead ball out at the nearside touchline midway through the second half – he would also get it in the ear from his manager Brendan Rodgers watching on only a few yards away.

“The manager has been calm most of the time he’s been here – that’s one of the few times he’s lost it,” said Griffiths. “It wasn’t great to see, so hopefully I can stay on his good side now. The message was just to stay calm.

“At the start of the second half tempers were getting a little bit flared, so he just told me to keep the head and concentrate on my football.”

As Griffiths now looks forward to a trip to Belgium in the Champions League, Rangers will lick their wounds with a trip to New Douglas Park on Friday night next on the horizon. Not quite the same is it?

James Tavernier was one of Pedro Caixinha’s most influential players going forward and the right-back said he could take great encouragement from the performance yesterday, despite the end result.

And he also insisted that the gap between themselves and the side now eight points ahead of them is closing on the park.

“The first half showed it,” said Tavernier. “Both teams created good chances and I thought we defended really well. Second half it was two mistakes that really cost us the game. Once they had the goals, they could take their foot off the gas a bit.

“We tried to press them, and it's a hard game that really wears you down. We've got positives to take out of that game and we need to work on the negatives.”

When asked if he still thought Rangers could challenge for the title, the Englishman replied: “Definitely. We've got three more games against them and we have to make the big games count. It's still early in the season. We've got to work hard and address Hamilton now.

“I felt two mistakes cost us the game. It is difficult to swallow and we are all disappointed in that changing room.

“We were happy with the first half, we created some chances and came in pleased. The game was 0-0 so it was anyone’s game. It is the small details that can cost you the game.”