Not a lot has changed around the Old Firm fixture: the feisty football, the aggro, the singing from the stands.

That much was obvious from an afternoon spent at Hampden Park where Celtic met Rangers for the first time in nearly three years.

Celtic won 2-0 in a fixture whose ugly features remained highly familiar. Some had predicted a Celtic slaughter, given the gulf in class between the two teams.

But it never materialised. Instead we were treated to a bruising and unsophisticated match, aptly played out on a Hampden pitch which, torn and pot-holed, was fit for a theatre of war.

On a wander around the stadium before the game - an opportunity to witness the happy ecumenism between these two sets of fans - one Rangers supporter said to me: "If we lose 2-0, that'll be a moral victory for us."

And in a way, it was. Celtic are way ahead of Rangers in terms of playing quality, but this was no slaughter, as many had been predicting.

The Hampden atmosphere was edgy. The two tribes arrived at either ends of the stadium, with the Glasgow police, well-versed in this pageant, forming a cordon behind the north and south stands.

As the game unfolded, a steady stream of policemen marched around the perimeter of the pitch to take up their sentry positions. On the field lunging tackles went in, with Scott Brown, a brilliant, psychotic Celtic captain, forever amid the rammy.

And, alas, old sores resurfaced. The Rangers support exhumed their dreaded songbook of old. Chants about the Pope, fenians, and many of their other demon-figures all featured regularly. That said, this Rangers support cannot go anywhere these days without being goaded.

"Tell the story! Make sure you guys tell the story!" one indignant and earnest Celtic fan bawled at reporters as they shuffled away at the final whistle. It was the time-honoured demand to examine "the community singing" which we witnessed during the match.

It was a predictable Old Firm goad-fest from start to finish - obviously, for the most part, from the Celtic end. The green and white hordes endlessly taunted their rivals about liquidation, broken history and the rest. On and on went their litany.

A solemn, provocative banner was unveiled at the Celtic end: "At the going down of the Hun. And in the Morning. We will remember them."

A riled Rangers support responded with plenty stuff about "fenian bastards" - they don't like them - "the Pope of Rome" and other things. Their old favourite, The Billy Boys, was given a lusty new life amid all the back and forth.

All of this was as colourful as it was predictable and, some would say, deplorable. In truth, we weary of it by now. It is all still there and it seems nothing can be done about it, by the clubs, by the police, by the Scottish parliament.

Others say: stop being so high-minded about it all. We are told repeatedly, aren't we�this is what football fans do? They mock, they goad, they wallow in their rivals' misery. In this context the Celtic support, in song and banner, did not come up short. They gave it the full repertoire.

Actually, if you ignore their dodgier moments, the Rangers fans stood strong and proud to the end, wildly lauding their team. In a dire period for the club, their fans, whatever some of their unfortunate accretions, are standing tall.

This game was also important for Ronny Deila. The heat was on this likeable Celtic coach, with some, such as the ex-Celt, John Hartson, saying he would face the sack should his team have lost.

As is transpired, there was little chance of that happening. Rangers couldn't live with Celtic. They were a goal behind after 10 minutes, 2-0 down by the half-hour mark, and it should have been 3-0 or 4-0 by half-time. Celtic simply ran around Hampden and refused to give their opponents the ball.

At the finish Deila wandered around the edge of the pitch pumping his fist towards a jubilant Celtic support. We underestimate how much this Norwegian coach takes no Celtic game as "a given". Every result is a relief for him and a cause for celebration.

In truth, Rangers shouldn't care too much about this defeat. The club and its beleaguered fans have far greater things to worry about than being beaten like this.

The on-going power struggle at Ibrox, involving Mike Ashley, Dave King and others, is much more important. If - or when - Rangers finally get stability, no-one will give this 2015 League Cup semi-final at Hampden a second thought.

The Glasgow derby is back. And it was as if it had never been away.