Source: Team_Talk
Davis delighted with 'special' goal
The classy midfielder netted the only goal of the game as the Ibrox side went two points clear of Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premier League with three games remaining.
Davis, who also cleared a Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink header off the line, told Setanta Sports 1: "I haven't scored in a few weeks now, so to get the winner in an Old Firm match is special for me, especially coming from Northern Ireland and being a Rangers fan."
He added: "We knew before the game we'd obviously need a big performance. We got that.
"We got ourselves in front - second half, that gave us something to hold onto and we got the three points in the end."
Celtic dominated the second half but were unable to score.
Davis said: "I think ideally we'd like to have had more possession of the ball and kept the ball better but the main thing for us is to grind out the three points and keep the run going.
"We've still got three difficult games to got and we'll not be getting over-excited yet."
After Rangers blew a huge lead in the title race last season, Davis is determined to hang on this time.
He said: "We spoke about it at the start of the season. Getting the title back was one of our main ambitions for the season.
"Hopefully we can learn from last year. It was a major disappointment.
"We've got ourselves in front now but we have three difficult games to go."
Manager Walter Smith hailed Davis' contribution, saying: "I thought he was excellent. I thought our whole team today worked extremely hard.
"Everybody that was involved in the game worked very hard indeed, none more so than Stevie, who played exceptionally well."
Smith urged his side to win their last three games of the season.
"We've got ourselves into the position that we'd want to be in with three games to go," he said.
"We need to show that we can continue this winning run."
And Smith warned Celtic, with no fixture congestion for Rangers, there would be no repeat of last season's collapse.
He said: "I don't think there was any doubt that last season we got ourselves into a better position than this one in terms of the championship.
"But everyone was aware - including Celtic - that the number of games that we'd need to play would catch up with us, and it did.
"This season, there's no reason why - considering the run of form that we're on at the present moment - that we can't continue."
But he added: "Everyone said before the game that if you win the Old Firm game, you'll win the championship, but that shows a disrespect to the rest of the teams we play."
Celtic boss Gordon Strachan insisted he was content with his side's performance.
"I was proud of them, to come here and play excellent football," he said, claiming they lacked both a cutting edge and a bit of luck. "We missed scoring goals.
"We were looking the wrong way for the second half, occasionally.
"But we did enough to win a game of football with a wee bit of luck on our side."
Celtic had a penalty claim in the first half when Scott McDonald went down in the box but Strachan refused to get involved in the debate.
"My view doesn't count," he said. "What I say here doesn't count - the game's finished.
"People have different views depending on what side of the town you come from."
Strachan raised eyebrows by starting with Shaun Maloney - who has only recently returned from injury - ahead of Aiden McGeady.
But he stood by Maloney's selection, saying: "I think he did all right. It worked out the way I wanted. He did well and then Aiden came on and did well."
On the title race, Strachan added: "We believe something can still happen, and if it's still there last game of the season then bring it on.
"But we need to win the next two games to make sure that we're still in with a chance with one game to go."
