Michael Beale living in 'deluded' Rangers reality if he stands by one Celtic derby assessment

Michael Beale's assessment of his team's performance against Celtic has raised another eyebrow - with Peter Grant labelling his post-match quotes 'delusional.'

Beale said he felt Rangers "deserved more" from the game as they narrowly lost 1-0 to hand Celtic a four-point lead at the top of the Premiership. Kyogo's strike was the difference after Gers had two goals chopped off, one for offside and another for a hotly-debated foul by Sam Lammers on Gustaf Lagerbielke.

Beale felt his side deserved at least a point but Grant, speaking alongside Barry Ferguson on the Go Radio Football show, said: "I'm not one for criticising managers because I know how difficult a job it is - but I think he's delusional on that interview. I thought when he was talking about the game, the chances and all that, I couldn't believe what he was saying. I couldn't think of Rangers putting two or three passes together. They got to the 18-yard box and ran out of ideas.

"I can't remember their centre-backs passing it into the middle of the pitch, maybe once. Barry spoke about it from the start, if I'm going in there as a Rangers manager, I am putting Celtic under so much pressure, not dropping off and allowing them to get a pass from the centre-backs or whatever.

"See that noise that's building up prior to the match, you've got to go and live with that. Barry will tell you, get a shot in, get a cross in, get a tackle in - Rangers did none of that.

"For the manager to come out and say he thought Rangers were probably the slightly better side with the chances - what about the chances Celtic had? I hate being critical but I thought that interview was delusional if he thought that."

Speaking after the game, Beale had said: "I thought today the performance