Miller: Rangers Not Far Away

Photo by Jeff Holmes

Rangers striker Kenny Miller insists the Ibrox side's second-half Hampden display proves they are not that far behind Celtic. Celtic were two goals up and cruising at the break in their QTS Scottish League Cup semi-final after Leigh Griffiths and Kris Commons both struck. But they were prevented from really rubbing their old rivals noses in it as Kenny McDowall's Light Blues stepped things up after the interval. Even so, Rangers failed to register a single shot on target as Craig Gordon enjoyed a stress-free afternoon as his side completed a 2-0 success. Miller, however, insists people like former Hoops striker Chris Sutton who called for a bigger margin of victory were out of order I think the gulf is smaller than people were making it out to be. It's as simple as that. We saw some stupid comments from ex-players in the press that were wide of the mark.People were coming along and saying Celtic were going to score this many and that many because they were overwhelming favourites. They were overwhelming favourites because they are top of the SPFL and we are second in the Championship.That is just the obvious reason why they are favourites. They have got better players because they are playing at that better level. They are playing better opposition every week and that makes them a better team. So I don't think the gulf is as big as everybody made it out to be.Maybe looking at our first-half display you might say it was but looking at the second, I don't think there is a lot between the teams.'' Miller was left crumpled in pain late in the second half following a challenge by Virgil van Dijk on the rutted Hampden pitch. His studs appeared to catch the turf just as the Dutchman made contact and he let rip at the state of the surface, just 24 hours after players from both Dundee United and Aberdeen complained about it after their semi-final. We saw a few clips from the game last night and you could see it tearing up.,'' said Miller.There was a lot of mounds on it and that can be dangerous. You can roll ankles, or catch studs. We're just fortunate there were no serious injuries over the two games.But there is no excuse for losing a game. The goals we lost were terrible. We will look at them this week and I'm sure there will be two or three lads who will think they should have done better. But as much as the pitch was poor it had no bearing on the result.'' Miller is a rare breed of player who has experienced the Glasgow derby from both halves of the city's divide. The clash was the first meeting of the sides since Rangers' liquidation nightmare but the former Scotland striker hopes to see it brought back as a regular feature next year - a development which depends on Rangers clinching promotion from the Championship. He said:It's a great fixture. Two fantastic clubs going heat-to-head and it's what we want to see in Scottish football. We want to see it back played at the top of Scottish football because it definitely brings far greater interest to our game than it does without it.Every Old Firm game is very similar. Because this was the first one for three years there's been a lot of build up to it. You could hear the noise both sets of fans made and it generated a great atmosphere.But from our point of view it's just disappointing that we cost ourselves a chance of winning with the first-half display.''