Celtic are “at the doorstep” of the Scottish Premiership title according to Ange Postecoglou after they maintained their six-point lead with a 1-1 draw against Rangers at Celtic Park.
Jota’s opener for Celtic was cancelled out by Fashion Sakala, who hit a post late on under intense pressure.
And Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst all but conceded the league despite “doing everything”.
“A draw leaves us in a really good position,” said manager Postecoglou.
And the Celtic manager told BBC Scotland: “It’s still stage one as far as I’m concerned. We can play better, not through a lack of trying, a lot of these guys are still in their first year at the club.
“It was about building something this year. We were under no illusions our goal was also to have success and we’re at the doorstep of that now.”
After failing to add to their one-goal lead, Celtic were pulled back and had to withstand a late surge from Rangers, with Joe Hart making a double save from Scott Arfield and Ryan Kent.
Postecoglou’s side stay six points clear with only three games remaining and with a near insurmountable 19-goal advantage over the Premiership holders.
“It was pretty intense as you’d expect with so much on the line,” said Postecoglou.
“We got our noses in front, then had our best opportunities to kill the game off. We didn’t take them and Rangers to their credit hung in there, they’re a good side.
“We had to hold on at the end to get at least the draw we needed. We had to show resilience and Joe Hart made some great saves.
Van Bronckhorst ‘couldn’t ask for more’
Rangers will now concentrate on Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg, as they bid to overturn a 1-0 deficit against Germany’s RB Leipzig at Ibrox, while they also have a Scottish Cup final later this month against Hearts.
“We needed to win to close the gap to three points, we didn’t, we drew, but I think we did everything,” Van Bronckhorst told Sky Sports. “I couldn’t ask for more, especially in the second half.
“We pushed really hard to come back in the game and had good opportunities to win the game. But in the end we are two points short.
“In the second half after 60 or 65 minutes we were getting stronger and stronger. The only thing is we didn’t score the big chances we had.
“We had a good performance today, physically we looked strong as well, now we have three days to prepare for Leipzig. We have to show the same intentions and character we showed today on Thursday.”
