CLINT HILL reckons Rangers proved they can match Celtic despite suffering Hampden heartache against the Hoops.

Mark Warburton’s side missed out on a Betfred Cup final spot as they lost the second Old Firm derby of the campaign on Sunday.

Moussa Dembele netted the only goal of the game with just three minutes remaining as Celtic joined Aberdeen in the final.

Rangers went into the derby clash with their 5-1 defeat at Parkhead still fresh in the memory and once again had nothing to show for their efforts.

Hill said: “The performance today showed we can match them.

“We weren’t able to take the little chances we did make but hopefully we’ve closed the gap and we’ll take confidence from that. But now it’s all about the next two games, we’ll mull over the games and prepare for them.

“It (the atmosphere) was brilliant, it’s a fantastic game to be involved in. Some games can drag but the first-half just flew by, the intensity, the electricity off the fans was terrific.

“It was a great experience for me to be involved in that kind of game but at the moment it’s a defeat so I’m hurting a little bit.

“We’ve got to watch out for ourselves, as long as our performances are where we want them to be, we’ll hopefully get what we want to get.

“Hopefully the gap is closing but it’s not all about today, we’ll have to go out and show it on Wednesday and Saturday.”

After seeing their League Cup dreams dashed at Hampden, Rangers will now look to get their Premiership title bid back on track in the coming days.

Warburton’s side face St Johnstone and Kilmarnock at Ibrox this week knowing they can ill-afford to lose further ground on league leaders Celtic.

The Ibrox boss was encouraged with the performance of his players and defender Hill believes there are positives that can be taken despite the disappointment in defeat.

He said: “It’s an Old Firm derby so there’s loads of pressure. They’ve got great strikers, top goal scorers in this league and they give a lot of teams problems.

“But I’m very proud at the way we handled it today. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get over the line.

“When you’re up against players like that you’re going to need your goalkeeper and he was outstanding today, three or four massive saves for us.

“I’m proud of how we did it – considering it was 5-1 last time we can take a lot of confidence from it but now we have to go into two tough games this week because we need six points from them.”