Tony Mowbray was disappointed to see Celtic lose the Old Firm derby

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray said the league title was "Rangers' to lose" after his side's 1-0 Old Firm defeat.

"It was a game we couldn't afford to lose really," he told BBC Scotland.

Maurice Edu's injury-time winner followed a red card for Scott Brown - which Celtic will appeal - after he clashed with striker Kyle Lafferty.

"I haven't seen it so I shouldn't really comment on it. People who have seen it say it was a very harsh decision," the Celtic manager added.

Mowbray expressed disappointment that Celtic failed to take one of a number of good chances in the first half.

Celtic striker Robbie Keane was denied twice by Allan McGregor and Marc-Antoine Fortune screwed a great chance wide just before the break.

"I thought in the first half we were the team in the ascendancy, we created the better chances and some good chances to score that we probably needed to take," said Mowbray.

"At the start of the second half they came out on the front foot and put us under a fair bit of pressure.

"The sending off came at a crucial moment in the game, and it didn't allow us to counter attack. But it looked as though we'd done enough and were going to see the game out.

"Given the youthfulness of our defence I thought they did very, very well. It can be quite cruel sometimes, (to concede) in the 93rd minute, but we have to take it on the chin."

We have to win football matches and lots of them, between now and the end of the season Celtic manager Tony Mowbray

Mowbray believes the derby at Ibrox represented a missed opportunity to narrow the gap on the defending SPL champions.

"We weren't as expansive as we might have been and yet, we could've come and won 1-0," he said.

"We had enough chances in the first half to maybe do that. We defended well enough as a unit and made life difficult for them.

"Unfortunately, the result is there in the history books and the sending off came at a crucial point of the game."

Mowbray said he kept Robbie Keane on at Ibrox in the hope he would find a goal from somewhere.

"One substitution was enforced through injury to Thomas Rogne, one was for Aiden McGeady because of ill-health - he'd been ill and sick in the past few days - he was never going to get through 90 minutes of football."

MY SPORT: DEBATE Give your reaction to Celtic's Old Firm defeat

Mowbray would not concede the title, however, he added: "If you're going to be honest it's there for Rangers to lose.

"We'll need to see how their squad holds up; we have to win football matches and lots of them, between now and the end of the season.

"In recent years, a seven-point gap has been overturned a few times, with fewer games to go than at the moment.

"We have to apply pressure by winning football matches."

His current Celtic side were still not strong enough in certain areas of the pitch, he added.

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