Graeme Murty says Rangers squandered the perfect opportunity to close the gap on Celtic after falling to defeat ten men.

The Light Blues twice led at Ibrox through goals from Josh Windass and Daniel Candeias.

But Celtic fought back and eventually emerged victorious when Odsonne Edouard scored after the champions had been reduced to ten men.

For Murty, it was a golden chance spurned.

He said: "I've just told the players in the changing room you'll never have a better opportunity to win the game.

"We've let that opportunity go away by not being good at the basics and giving away three really poor goals.

"We started really well, the stadium gets rocking after we go in front but after they scored we lost our composure.

"The momentum really changes on the second goal which is a basic error... schoolboy defending."

The former development coach says this is his toughest defeat to take since stepping into the managerial hotseat in Govan.

Murty added: "It's the hardest one so far, you are excited with the emotion of the game and some of the play, not all of it.

"You've got a real good opportunity and we've just squandered it.

"You can't give top players space and time because they'll hurt you and I thought they showed that."

Rangers face Celtic again in the Scottish Cup semi-finals next month.

Murty insists that while his side is hurting after the defeat they be a stronger outfit for it in the long run.

He said: "Every single person and their dog will tell us what's went wrong. We can't afford to let one bad result wash away all the good work that has been done to this point.

"I've got a group of players who are hurting, frustrated and wanted to do better.

"But we must learn from it and the measure of the team will be how we bounce back.

"We will improve from this, sometimes these knock backs actually make you stronger as a group, they make you more hungrier to succeed."