STEVEN Gerrard has warned his Rangers players not to get carried away with their 2-0 win over Celtic and stressed the importance of maintaining their Scottish title challenge until May this season.

Goals from centre-half Connor Goldson in each half ensured the Ibrox club recorded back-to-back wins against their city rivals at Parkhead for the first time since 1995 this afternoon.

At the same time, Gerrard’s side, who have played a game more than the defending champions, moved four points clear at the top of the Premiership table.

The top flight leaders dominated opponents who were missing a raft of first team regulars and the former Liverpool and England captain was pleased with both his charges’ performance and the result.

However, his side have fallen away after Christmas in the past two seasons after triumphs over Celtic and he emphasised to them that avoiding a similar collapse in the months ahead is now crucial.

“We move on to the next game,” he said. “We need to be humble, we need to be respectful. We know what we are chasing. Celtic are the team to catch, we know that. There is no way we are going to get carried away.

“The big test, the big challenge, for us is can we maintain it for a full season. I am happy with the start we have made, I am happy with where we are. You can see the bench today was starting to look strong behind me as well. We are in a good place.

“But things change. You get tested and challenged through the season. The challenge for us as a group is can we maintain it for the full season.”

Gerrard added: “There is no message to Celtic. I think it (the win) is for us. We have come here again, we have performed well, we have done the job that the players were asked to do. It is not about sending a message.

“It is still very early, there is a lot of football to be played. I said to the players there ‘look, you can be happy today, you have put in a really good performance, enjoy your night, we go back to work on Monday’. We need to remain calm and professional.

“I am extremely happy with the outcome. It is a fantastic result. It is three important points, it is what we have come for. We gave the players a game plan in a short space of time. It wasn’t too much different to what we have been doing against this type of opposition, who are good.

"The players have gone out and carried it out with a mature performance, a professional performance. We have been relatively quiet during the course of the 90 minutes considering what you normally face here. The players deserve credit for the three points, the result and the performance. I don’t think we were at our fluent best, but we were really assured and professional and controlled in what we did today.

"This is a notoriously tough place to come. But I thought we caused Celtic’s back three or back five a lot of problems today. We could have scored more goals. I am really pleased with our performance out of possession. I thought over the course of the 90 minutes we really didn’t concede or give up too much. We carried a threat all afternoon. The players delivered the game plan so they deserve credit for that.

"We need to move on from this result pretty quickly. We have got a tough game on Thursday. The lads can enjoy their night tonight. They have got a day off tomorrow to recover. We get ready for another big challenge. There will be no one getting carried away. We need to remain humble and remember what has gone on over the last two years. There is still an awful lot of work to do.”

Gerrard, whose team take on Standard Liege in Belgium in the Europa League on Thursday night, singled out Goldson for special praise after overseeing Rangers' second consecutive win over Celtic.

“He has been excellent for me since he walked through the door," he said. "He has come from a team where he wasn’t playing regularly. This was his big move. He has been available for me from day one, every single session, every single game. He has matured, he has got better, he has improved. But he has put the work in. I have been delighted with Connor Goldson from day one. He has made some mistakes, but all players do and that is when they need their manager. Connor has got my support.

"I thought he as outstanding today and not just his goals, his all-round leadership, his voice, the line he set was really brave. I just heard he got Man of the Match. He deserves that. I have been proud of and happy with Connor Goldson since day one.

“I am happy with the hunger and I am happy with the goals getting spread around the team. Last year it was (Nikola) Katic and he got a lot of credit for it. So Connor deserves his moment and his night tonight. But it is a big part of what we do. We want to be a threat on set pieces. At the same time, I am more proud of the players defending our box because (Shane) Duffy is a threat, (Kristoffer) Ajer is a threat. They are a big powerful team. We have protected Allan McGregor really well today.”