We're making title race easy for Celtic by dropping so many points

Mar 22 2009 By Mark Guidi

RAGING Rangers boss Walter Smith ripped into his "soft" side after they blew a chance to go back to the top with a 2-2 draw against Hearts yesterday.

Gers looked to be cruising to victory at Ibrox as goals from Kyle Lafferty and Barry Ferguson fired them 2-0 ahead at half-time.

But they were booed off after letting the Jambos snatch a point thanks to goals from Christos Karipidis and Ruben Palazuelos.

Rivals Celtic can now move five points clear if they beat Dundee United this afternoon.

And Smith reckons his side are making it easy for Gordon Strachan's men.

He said: "The impact this result has on the championship depends on how results go between now and the end of the season.

"But we're making it extremely difficult for ourselves, especially with our home results.

"We've lost to Inverness and drawn with Hearts in our past two games at Ibrox and we had 90 per cent of the play in both games.

"I'm disappointed not to win this game. When you're chasing the championship this feels like a defeat.

"We were two ahead and I don't think anyone would have thought Hearts would have left here with a point.

"But we managed to undo our good work to let them back in to the match.

"There was a softness about us. There was a lack of resilience when put under pressure.

"So we need to showmore determination."

Smith also had a pop back at the Rangers fans who booed him and his players at the full-time.

He blasted: "When I returned here as manager I made us difficult to beat and they all said that was the wrong thing to do.

"When you look at this group then people might think that it was the right thing to do."

Jambos boss Csaba Laszlo was thrilled with his side's comeback but revealed he wanted to finish off some of his players at half-time.

He said: "We were s*** in the first half. I was loud and noisy with some players.

"I wanted to kill some of the people in my dressingroom at half-time.

"But I tried to give them their confidence back at that point and I changed a few of the tactics.

"A lot of my players played to the level I expect in the second half.

"David Obua, Michael Stewart and Ruben Palazuelos all played well.

"We got a point and it could have been three but Allan McGregor made a good save at the end."

Laszlo also praised the contribution of Calum Elliot who helped turn the game after coming on for Deividas Cesnauskis at half-time.

The strikerwas loaned out to Livingston for the first half of the season but Laszlo now reckons he's ready to play a key role.

He said: "I always try to protect Calum. When I first met him I didn't think he had the power or attitude to play in the SPL.

"I sent him on loan to Livingston and he scored 15 goals. He came back full of confidence and we have to take him to a higher level."

Taken from the Sunday Mail