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Smith admits defensive frailties after Old Firm defeat

27/04/2008

Rangers boss Walter Smith admits he has defensive problems after the 3-2 defeat by Celtic at Parkhead.

A double from Scott McDonald and a penalty from Barry Robson sealed victory for the reigning champions, while David Weir and Daniel Cousin netted in the first half for the visitors.

Weir limped off with a groin strain to join defensive partner Carlos Cuellar and goalkeeper Allan McGregor on the sidelines.

Rangers have four matches in eight days, starting on Thursday with the second leg of their Uefa Cup semi-final against Fiorentina, in their quest for an unprecedented quadruple.

Smith admitted he was disappointed that his side gave away soft goals.
"We are disappointed to lose the last goal, I think it was a contributory factor that Davie Weir had come off," Smith told BBC Scotland.

"With Christian Dailly, Amdy Faye and a new goalkeeper, we had a little bit of disruption in defence.

"It was poor defending from ourselves. That apart, our players did exceptionally well to come back from the early goal."

The win for the Hoops puts them five points clear of Rangers, but Smith's side have three games in hand.

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan, whose side face a trip to Motherwell next Saturday, praised his side's character from coming back from 2-1 down.

"After scoring the first goal it kind of spooked us. We sat a bit too deep but sorted it out in the second half and it worked well for us," Strachan told Setanta Sports.

"Rangers are physically a big, big side and they have good deliveries. They were two good deliveries and great headers. We think we could do better, but when we played I thought we made some excellent chances."