Source: Team_Talk
Smith: Bore draw jibes were silly
Both teams found themselves under fire following a drab goalless stalemate at Parkhead, which failed to live up to the hype that had surrounded the clash for weeks beforehand.[LNB]But Smith branded the criticism ludicrous and insisted fans of both teams get plenty of value for their money.[LNB]"I agree with what Gordon Strachan said totally," he said.[LNB]"If one of us win an Old Firm game, we are the best team in the world; if we lose it, we are the worst team in the world; and if we draw then both teams are rotten.[LNB]"That's the way we are in Scotland; there's got to be something to criticise. I don't think Rangers and Celtic have let anybody down in terms of trying to entertain and score goals.[LNB]"It was ridiculous the amount of criticism about the game. All of a sudden because it was a 0-0 at Celtic Park, the whole of Scottish football was hopeless and was being dragged down.[LNB]"I just think sometimes the reaction to Old Firm games is slightly ludicrous."[LNB]Kilmarnock took a shock lead today through Jamie Hammill but Kris Boyd netted his 13th goal against his former club to restore parity before Kenny Miller claimed a double - with all three strikes coming in a six-minute spell.[LNB]The win allowed Rangers to leapfrog Celtic at the summit of the Scottish Premier League ahead of their arch-rivals' visit to Motherwell.[LNB]But Smith refused to read too much into his side's status as league leaders for the first time since November 1.[LNB]He said: "The main thing is to win the game and Rangers have to find a consistency in winning if we are to hold out any hope of being champions.[LNB]"Celtic have shown over the last few seasons that they have been able to gain that consistency. We have to show we can gain it if we hope to win the league this season.[LNB]"That's the challenge for us; it's an ongoing challenge and in this part of the season, we have been as consistent in our overall play as at any other time this season."[LNB]Smith hopes Miller is now hitting top form at the ideal time after netting four goals in the space of three days, following the midweek Homecoming Scottish Cup win over Forfar.[LNB]He said: "The goals are a bonus for him but you can see he is far freer in terms of his movement across the pitch.[LNB]"He was inhibited a little bit by injury and he has now got over that. Hopefully, it comes at a good time in the season for us."[LNB]Kilmarnock boss Jim Jefferies was furious at the individual errors which cost his side the rare opportunity to take points off Rangers at Ibrox.[LNB]He was unhappy Manuel Pascali failed to pick up Madjid Bougherra, who set up Boyd, and also blamed the Italian for losing possession to Pedro Mendes, who teed up Miller's second goal.[LNB]Frazer Wright was also criticised for hesitating at Miller's first strike.[LNB]Jefferies said: "Where did it go wrong? Three individual errors is where it went wrong.[LNB]"We put ourselves in a great position and scored a great goal and we thought the fans might start to get on their backs.[LNB]"Then we had a crazy six minutes and suddenly we are 3-1 down. Those three individual errors are wht have cost us the game.[LNB]"We gifted them it - it's as simple as that."[LNB][LNB]
