Last Old Firm match was ‘easy’ but it will be different this time, warns Charlie

CHARLIE MULGREW’S big-game savvy was not required as Celtic sauntered to an uneventful Old Firm victory last season. However, he knows much more will be needed next month when battle lines are drawn back at Hampden.

Missing with a longterm knee problem, Mulgrew watched as goals by Leigh Griffiths and Kris Commons wrapped up victory in half an hour for a Celtic side that barely broke sweat against a plodding Rangers outfit under the caretaker control of Kenny McDowall.

Mulgrew’s recollection is that Rangers were content to keep the score at 2-0 and avoid a more bruising outcome in the League Cup semi-final.

Fit and primed to play a part in the April 17 clash, with a William Hill Scottish Cup Final place at stake, Mulgrew does not expect Celtic to be able to coast to success against Mark Warburton’s entertainers.

Mulgrew said: ‘I didn’t play. It was easy, wasn’t it? Two early goals and Rangers seemed happy to get beaten 2-0. Their fans were singing at 2-0 and seemed pretty happy.

‘This time will be different. But we are trying to concentrate on the league because that game will take care of itself. We just want to stay in good form, so we can go into it with momentum behind us.’

Celtic will enjoy a significant edge in experience of the unique fixture. Kenny Miller and Lee Wallace are the only likely Rangers starters to have participated in the Glasgow derby day.

In the last season of league hostilities — 2011/12 — Mulgrew was sent off with a quarter of an hour to play at Ibrox as Rangers ran out 4-2 victors. He learned from such an incident that experience could be crucial in booking Celtic a place back at Hampden in May.

‘I think that does probably get you ready because you don’t realise what it is like until you are amongst it,’ said Mulgrew. ‘So to have those memories of it, of the atmosphere, of the build-up and how big it is in Scotland, then of course it is going to help you.

‘These games are heated and I think it is important to have experience of them for that reason. I have that and a few of our players have that. It is not so much showing that you care that matters. It is keeping calm. That time I got sent off I didn’t manage to do that.’