Gordon Strachan declared himself "proud" of his players despite Celtic surrendering their position at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League to Rangers with an Old Firm derby defeat at Ibrox.

The champions had the best of an enthralling 90 minutes in rain-soaked Govan but a Steven Davis goal before the interval - when the Northern Ireland international slid in a Kenny Miller cross - was enough to separate the sides.

The Celtic boss was, as usual, defiant in defeat, saying; "It's always disappointing when you don't win a game but I'm proud of them. To come and play as they did here, was excellent."

He added: "When Rangers scored, I thought we were well in control of the game and then the rest of the game I thought, 'This is good, you are not panicking, you are passing it well and getting to the right areas'.

"But we just couldn't finish Rangers off.

"I was also pleased by the way we started.

"In free play, we did very well and you are not going to get a lot of chances when you go away from home against a good, physical Rangers side with good height.

"You have to think your way through when you are playing against that sort of bulk."

Strachan, however, bristled when asked his thinking behind dropping fans' favourite Aiden McGeady for Shaun Maloney, who was making his first start in the SPL this year.

He said: "If I explained that, I would have to explain why I left Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink out of the League Cup final, why I left out (Shunsuke) Nakamura against Hearts or Scott McDonald at the beginning of the season and I'm not here to explain every decision I make."