Liam Scales believes Celtic can build on Old Firm win over Rangers

Celtic defender Liam Scales celebrated his side’s “huge” win over Rangers at Ibrox, and said the team will now work hard to reach a higher level of play.

Kyogo Furuhashi’s goal sealed a 1-0 win for the visitors in the first Old Firm match of the season, opening up a four-point gap between the sides after just four league games.

The defending Premiership champions have had a rocky start to the season, losing to Kilmarnock in the Viaplay Cup and then dropping points in a 0-0 draw against struggling St Johnstone at Celtic Park.

Scales admitted the team had plenty of room to improve but backed them to do just that as they get used to new manager Brendan Rodgers’ plans and use Sunday’s derby success as a springboard.

“We’ve had a couple of disappointing results in the past few weeks and this was probably the toughest one that could be thrown at us at this stage,” he said.

“To come here and win is huge, but it’s still only three points in the long run.

“It is good for our morale to go into the international break off the back of a win, especially here. Hopefully we’ve turned the corner and we can kick on from this.

“With the new manager we’ve worked hard over pre-season and he’s getting his message across.

“There’s going to be big games coming up and Champions League and we just really need to focus on our system and getting everything right and everyone clicking because we’re still not quite there at the moment.

“So to come here and win is brilliant and we still have a bit of work to do to get to the levels we can. It’s such a talented squad and there’s so much depth. We should kick on from this now.”

Scales had been out of the first team picture at Celtic, and spent last season on loan at Aberdeen, but injuries to Cameron Carter-Vickers, Stephen Welsh and Maik Nawrocki opened up an opportunity.

Thrown into a makeshift centre-back partnership with new signing Gustaf Lagerbielke, the 25-year-old grabbed his chance to shine and said he and his Swedish teammate could develop their partnership after shutting out Rangers.

“I hadn’t experienced a game against Rangers for Celtic,” he said. “Obviously I was here last year with Aberdeen but it’s a different game with Celtic. The intensity was crazy.

“After the first ten minutes or so getting into the game, I started to enjoy it and I’m really happy with how it went.

“We’re still getting to know each other’s games. Gus came in a couple of weeks ago and was basically straight in the team.

“He’s done well to come straight into a different style of football and it’s a big move for him, coming into the team and doing well.

“We’re still getting to know each other but we’ve defended well and it’s two clean sheets in a row. There’s been a couple of times when we could do better, obviously, but that will come.

“Playing games together is the best way to learn from each other and learn about each other’s game.”