What Neil Lennon really needed in Sunday's Old Firm game was his assistants - Alan Thompson, Johan Mjallby - and himself in the team.
What Celtic missed was exactly the kind of mentality those three brought to the Hoops jersey in spades when they were playing.
Rangers had mental toughness by the bucketful and that did for Celtic, who could not match their desire and will to win.
Lennon can feel justifiably aggrieved over a poor and wrong penalty decision, but overall Rangers had the better players.
Kenny Miller (centre) is congratulated by Lee McCulloch and Kyle Lafferty after scoring for Rangers. Photo: SNS
Indeed, Anthony Stokes was lucky he wasn't plying his trade in England's Premier League, because his lunging tackle in the opening minutes would probably have seen him red-carded in that league.
The Old Firm's mission is not to beat the rest.
With the vastly mismatched resources in Scottish football, they should do that as a matter of course.
No, their mission is to beat each other and it is Rangers who have emerged with the psychological upper hand until the next clash.
Walter Smith's side are a much better team than critics have given them credit for.
Their Champions League results and Scottish Premier League form cannot be argued with.
In Allan McGregor, they now have a keeper as good as anything in the English top flight and, in Kenny Miller, a front man with a level of confidence unmatched by any Celtic player.
Their strength of belief and teamwork was superior to that of a Celtic side with seven derby-day debutants.
Their central-defensive pairing of David Weir and Madjid Bougherra was firm in its resolve and the midfield, once into its second-half stride, had too much strength and organisation for Celtic.
However, Lennon, who is just in the management door compared to Smith, a vastly experienced campaigner, can take some heart.
Lennon looks to have a winner in forward Gary Hooper, who received little service throughout but who took his goal with a speed of reaction that promised much for the future.
The Celtic manager also lost talisman Shaun Maloney just into the restart and who knows what difference his pace and trickery might have made to the second half.
In Emilio Izaguirre and Ki Sung-Yueng, he had two players of genuine flair and talent who were unflustered by the day's events and look to have the credentials for a successful stay at Parkhead.
There is a school of thought that, with a starting line up of six Scots and two Northern Irishmen, Rangers had players who understood what was required in such a hothouse occasion. Celtic kicked off with just two Scots in their line up.
I'm not convinced of the argument. Professional football has been a global game for a long time.
What surely counts is the quality of player and the hunger, desire and commitment they show. This time round, Rangers players had more of all of those things.
Lennon is articulate, smart and intelligent. He'll need all of those qualities now to quickly build a side that can match the qualities of Celtic's great rivals if the SPL flag is to fly at Celtic Park at the end of this season.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jimspence/2010/10/penalty_controversy_fails_to_m.html
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