The league title might be out of reach, but Rangers sent Celtic back to the east end of Glasgow with a timely reminder of what they are capable of.
What will have pleased Philippe Clement even more, is that the pre-match criticism of his line-up was soon silenced.
The manager had a major decision to make at right-back and pulled a Ridvan Yilmaz shaped rabbit out of the hat by playing the Rangers No.3 on the opposite flank.
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Ridvan Yilmaz proves Rangers selection fears wrong
Ridvan is notoriously one-footed, and yet playing on the ‘wrong’ side seemed to benefit the Turkey international.
Being able to cut inside onto his preferred left foot, Ridvan had six attempts at goal for Rangers – three on target, two off target and one blocked.
It also didn’t stop the 23-year old from making several marauding runs overlapping Vaclav Cerny.
The biggest plus though, was that he kept Daizen Maeda quiet.
The Japan international has routinely terrorised James Tavernier but got nothing out of Ridvan.
Kick and run doesn’t work when the defender is just as quick.
What did Clement put Ridvan performance down to?
Clement didn’t take any of the praise for Ridvan’s performance, instead choosing to highlight the unity of the squad:
“Everybody supported Ridvan directly after the game, all the players, all the staff, because he’s somebody with the right mentality for Rangers,” Clement said of Ridvan’s penalty miss in the Premier Sports Cup final.
“He took his responsibility and that happens in football then and it’s disappointing that moment.
“But if the support and the togetherness is not that big, Ridvan can never do a performance like this today because then he would have run around with his head down for two weeks.
“It’s only two weeks ago, it’s not long.
“So, he made the click the day after because everybody feels safe in this group that they work hard together, but they support each other also.”
Ridvan might not start the next derby at right-back, but what he has done is shown how to shut down Maeda and sent Brendan Rodgers back to Parkhead to think again.
Tavernier being injured might well have been a blessing in disguise.
