‘I’m not busy with Celtic’ – Clement happy despite failing to hit top spot
Philippe Clement refused to bemoan wasteful finishing as Rangers fell one goal short of knocking Celtic off the Scottish Premiership summit after a 3-1 win over Ross County at Ibrox.
Rangers had an incredible 43 shots, 23 on target, last night but had to wait until stoppage time to put the result beyond doubt as John Souttar headed home the clinching third goal. Cyriel Dessers' first-half double – either side of a Simon Murray equaliser which came completely against the run of play - had earlier put the home side in control.
County had goalkeeper George Wickens to thank for keeping the score down as the Fulham loanee made a series of heroic saves, while Dessers was guilty of missing more chances than he converted along with several of his team-mates.
While the result drew Rangers level at the top of the table on 61 points and +40 goal difference, Celtic remain ahead on goals scored after the Ibrox side failed to win by the threegoal margin required to claim top spot.
Clement, however, insisted he was not concerned by the missed chances or the league standings. "It was a really good game from my team and I think every person in the stadium today and four months ago would see a huge difference in the team," he said.
"Everyone was involved in making wave after wave of attack but defended also really well. This could have been a night with much more goals but you need a little bit of luck, and on the other side was a goalkeeper who maybe played the game of his life also. We need to continue what we've been doing and that's the most important to keep creating those chances and playing attacking football.
"It was not about top spot. You just feel the momentum is there to make more goals. There are a lot of games to go. We need to focus on ourselves and not on how many goals other teams have. I'm not busy with Celtic. I'm busy with Rangers to make this team better, to take as many points as possible, and win as many trophies as possible with this team. We're only focused on ourselves. We're the only team in three competitions. We are proud of that and we're going to fight hard for that."
In last night’s other cinch Premiership clash, Aberdeen and Motherwell shared the spoils in a 3-3 thriller.