Danny Rohl bemoans Rangers 'wrong decisions' vs Celtic but title belief still intact after second half collapse
The Rangers manager has reacted to a 2-2 draw against Celtic in the Scottish Premiership
Dejected Danny Rohl was left licking his wounds after watching his Rangers side throw away a two-goal lead against Celtic - but insists the draw hasn’t dampened the belief within his squad.
The Ibrox side allowed a resurgent Celtic to stage a second half comeback in a classic game of two halves to leave Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts with a commanding lead over both Old Firm teams in the title race.
A sensational first-half double from Youssef Chermiti had the Light Blues seemingly in cruise control at half-time but the reigning champions came roaring back in the second half with Kieran Tierney’s header and a 90th-minute Reo Hatate spot-kick rescuing a point.
Danny Rohl on Rangers 2-2 Celtic
A frustrated Rohl told BBC Sportsound: “At the moment, the feeling is more disappointment because you dropped two points after a 2-0 lead. It's not about 50 minutes, it's about longer. We had high intensity, we played really nice football, we found our space. It was great.
"In the second half, we were not clinical in possession. We made some wrong decisions then we lose the ball, we give them a little bit of momentum then they score early in the second half and then you know it's 2-1 and they have nothing to lose.
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“Finally, it's a draw. It's always a little bit lucky for a team to get a late pen. This is normal, I would say it's the same when we get a pen late in the game. It's about the next game and we have to move on.
“We go again. We'll try next week in the cup game again a good performance and hopefully we can keep our performance over 90 minutes.
“There are still nine games to go, this is 27 points. All games now will be tough for all the teams. We believe until the end. This season, the decision making will be on the last matchday.”
Celtic penalty award vs Rangers verdict
Rohl offered his take on the decision to award Celtic a penalty in the 90th minute after Dujon Sterling was penalised for handling Daizen Maeda’s header from close proximity. While suggesting Sterling had no time to react, the German felt his side should’ve taken care of business.
Rohl commented: “I think with VAR, if they make the decision I think it’s always tough late on in such a game to make such a decision. There is a header from I don’t know how big the distance is, 10 centimetres or something like this, I think you cannot really react.
”For me, it’s not about this. I think it’s about in general. Last week it was a big foul on us and very late in the game, and there was no consequence. Today there is a consequence against us. But we should play over 90 minutes a good game then we do not have this problem.”