2026-03-02 12:19:59
Martin O’Neill thinks Celtic are “still in” the Scottish Premiership title race after fighting back to draw with rivals Rangers.
The Hoops produced a spirit second-half display to draw 2-2 in Sunday’s (01.03.26) Old Firm derby and the coach thinks his team are capable of chasing down leaders Hearts – who they trail by eight points but with a game in hand.
O’Neill said: “I think today’s result – if you belong to Hearts – then you’ll think it’s a great result for them.
“But even so, we’re not out of it. If the game had ended at half-time, with our performance, we’d have thought, ‘We’re a million miles off it.’
“Now by the end of the game, the manner that we played, particularly here at Ibrox, 2-0 down, we fight back.
“There’s still plenty of heart and desire to try and retain the championship. It’s just been a tough old struggle this season. We just have to try and dig it out.”
O’Neill was proud of the character his side showed and believes his team could have taken even more from the derby clash.
He said: “It was lovely to come out and get something. We could easily have won it in the end.
“Luke (McCowan) says he maybe should have scored. I haven’t seen very many things back. First-half, totally Rangers. Second half, totally us.
“I think if you had told me at half-time that we would get out of this with something, it looked a long, long way off.
“But when we finally scored the penalty, at about the sixth attempt, (Reo) Hatate is racing out to put the ball back on the halfway line.
“There is a bit of frustration but I think we are still in the title race when it looked pretty daunting at half-time.”
Visit Bang Premier (main website)
