NARROWLY beating Ross County with a deflected second-half goal was all well and good for Celtic, but their fans will feel cheated if there is such a fine margin when they are finished with Rangers on Sunday.

If Rangers are as organised and diligent as the wee team from the Highlands they have a chance of frustrating Celtic in the League Cup semi-final, and the longer they can hold on at Hampden the more the fascinating the game will be.

What Celtic will surely bring to the first Old Firm game in almost three years will be an intensity and tempo which was often absent in Dingwall. They were comfortable enough winners, really, but they sauntered and were casual. Their support will demand more ruthlessness, and more goals, against this vulnerable Rangers team.

Rangers are a dysfunctional club in almost ever respect although it is fair to assume they have thoroughly scouted Celtic to figure out how best to contain them. Motherwell played a deep-lying 4-5-1 against Ronny Deila's side in midweek and held out for almost half an hour before crumbling 4-0. County went 4-1-4-1 and conceded only Kris Commons's deflected shot seven minutes into the second half. County got men behind the ball, constantly made interceptions and did a decent job of suffocating Celtic's attackers. It sounds simple, putting it like that, but it takes focus, energy and guts which might be more apparent in County's team than Rangers'.

Anthony Stokes, Stefan Johansen and James Forrest were all rested and the first two, at least, will return to start the semi-final. Liam Henderson and John Guidetti will probably make way for them. Guidetti, seven games without a goal now, is playing under a little cloud although you would not put it past him to come good again when all eyes are on the derby.

The pace of Virgil van Dijk and Jason Denayer allows Celtic's full-backs to bomb up the park, knowing that there is adequate cover. Emilio Izaguirre and either Adam Matthews or Mikael Lustig will see plenty of the ball against Rangers and their crosses will be significant if Kenny McDowall's team takes the obvious route of trying to close down the midfield and deny Johansen and Commons much space.

Celtic are used to playing defensive teams - Deila said he sensed opponents had recently become fearful of his team - and although a semi-final is winner-takes-all Rangers will have to come into the game with a deeply cautious approach to avoid a real battering. Like Motherwell did, and like County did, they will try to keep things tight for 30 minutes, and until half-time, and see if Celtic begin to lose their composure. It is an unambitious but inevitable tactic against a team with Celtic's qualities.

There are no distractions now, the players can concentrate fully on the derby. "The preparation has already started for Rangers and it is a very big game," said Craig Gordon, a veteran of Hearts-Hibernian and Sunderland-Newcastle United fixtures.

"I would think it is the biggest derby I'll have been involved in. I've played in some big matches both internationally and at club level and I'm really looking forward to experiencing this one. I have been to one previous Old Firm match. I think it was Lubo Moravcik's final match against Rangers at home. It was a hospitality thing. Someone dropped out at the last minute and I went along to see what it was like. As much as I can remember, it was near the end of the season and didn't matter too much, if you could ever say that about a Celtic v Rangers match."

Celtic are entitled to feel a corner has been turned in the league campaign. Going into last weekend they were four points behind Aberdeen with two games in hand. Now they are three points clear with one game in hand. Charlie Mulgrew will be out for a number of weeks but Celtic are otherwise at full strength for the semi-final.

Commons appeared to make his own decision to speak to the media after the County game rather than being selected to do so by the Celtic public relations staff. Clearly he had things to get off his chest about not yet getting the two-year deal he wants from the club. It was slightly awkward to hear him offering up little barbs about how his contract talks had been handled by Celtic while Deila stood at the back of the little media room, hearing every word. There is tension between Commons and Celtic but it seems likely he will remain for the rest of the season and then leave.

County have their own major fixture at the weekend. They are four points adrift at the bottom but gave Celtic a far stiffer test than Motherwell did last midweek. They have two games in hand - teams at the wrong end of the table tend not to win those, of course - and on Saturday they face Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

The Highland derby is crucial if they are to maintain the momentum of competing so well with the champions. As for Celtic, they are in good shape for their biggest domestic game in three years.