Smith satisfied after stalemate

The stalemate at Parkhead sees Celtic remain in pole position with a two-point advantage in the SPL.But, with the last Old Firm derby of the season at Ibrox, Smith was far from unhappy with the outcome.Smith told BBC Scotland: "It's never an easy place to come to and I think the benefit of the draw probably goes to us in the sense that we have the last Old Firm game at home."But, from a Rangers perspective, we have to gain a level of consistency against the rest of the teams.''He added: "I thought we were far better in the second half."We restricted Celtic to hardly any opportunities. The Nakamura free-kick was it."The first-half performance maybe didn't warrant a great deal but the second half was far better.''Seventeen-year-old John Fleck became Rangers' youngest Old Firm debutant in almost 25 years and Smith confessed it was a tough match for the youngster.He explained: "With the exception of Steven Davis, we were poor in the first half."When you are a young player you need a helping hand and everyone was having a struggle in the first half."Credit to Celtic, they put us under pressure and they worked very hard."It was a good education for him. It's not easy for a young boy to come and play at Celtic Park but he did that and will have benefited from that.''Striker Kyle Lafferty limped out of the action in the second half and Smith said: "He took a kick in the calf, which is causing him a bit of a problem."It has cramped up and there is a fair bit of bruising already so we will see how he is.''Celtic manager Gordon Strachan praised goalkeeper Artur Boruc for playing a crucial role in the Glasgow derby.Boruc prevented his captain Stephen McManus from netting an own goal, before pulling off another great stop to deny David Weir.Strachan added: "That was good, that was refreshing seeing him back to where he was a wee while ago where he was actually saving games for us.''The Celtic boss admits the problems for his team are at the other end of the pitch.He said: "We are not at our best at the moment and we just have to plod along until we get back there."Up front, we are not functioning as a group because there are five strikers at the club."That group has to come to the fore now and score goals."He added: "I would rather have won the game today but I didn't think Rangers deserved to get beat.''Scott Brown was forced out of the game late on following a clash with Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor which left him dazed.Strachan said: "It was an horrendous clatter. But, if we tell him he is all right, he will think he is all right! He's not really but he thinks he is.''

Source: Team_Talk