Brown laughs off his starring role in the melee that followed victory

● Celtic captain taunts the Rangers supporters at full-time then jokes that Halliday just came over to congratulate him

through Ryan Kent before Edouard showed real craft by playing in James Forrest to net an 86th-minute winner. The 21-year-old Frenchman was a case study in keeping the head when all around are losing theirs. A fact not lost on the matchwinning winger, who delivered a vital derby success for his manager Neil Lennon, who needed the win as he seeks to build a case to step up from interim to permanent successor to Brendan Rodgers.

“You need your striker to be on top in games like this and he was tremendous for 90 minutes,” Forrest said of Edouard, whose display was in marked contrast with that of Morelos. “You could see last season when he came in that he is so chilled. Nothing fazes him. Once he gets the ball at his feet he can bully defenders and it was a great performance from him. He has scored in a few of these games now and the manager said afterwards it was one of the best Old Firm performances he’s seen. He was holding the ball up and contributed really well in scoring one goal and setting up the other.”

Forrest, pictured inset, was willing to defend his captain over what appeared indefensible baiting of the Rangers support at fulltime. He had no case to answer for himself with the mild-mannered 27-year-old one of those players who admirably steered clear of the shenanigans. “He is unbelievable for the squad on and off the park,” Forrest said of his captain.

“I have never played with someone who has got so much about him. He gets everyone working and I don’t know what happened with the [Morelos] red card but he keeps going and is always fighting. He is a real plus point to have in the team.” Forrest did not deny that a revenge motive featured in the build-up to this latest – and in the final analysis – literal scrap between Glasgow’s big two, the result of Rangers outplaying their rivals to post a first win in the fixture in 14 games

0 The moment that appeared to rile Rangers’ Andy Halliday so much, Brown goes to the visiting supporters at full-time to signal that Celtic are on their way to an eighth Premiership title in a row.