John Lundstram insists Rangers believe they can beat Celtic but Groundhog Day errors prove key sticking point

John Lundstram lamented the same old mistakes that saw Rangers round off a year of Old Firm misery with their semi-final slip-up.

The Ibrox side were hoping for a first dose of derby success since beating their bitter rivals at the same stage of last year’s Scottish Cup. But instead they are now destined to finished a bruising campaign empty handed after gift-wrapping victory for Ange Postecoglou’s men. Gers were rampaging their way to Seville when they last toppled the Hoops but there’s been nothing but pain since that defeat in Spain, with four defeats and two draws.

And they only have themselves to blame for this latest letdown. Nico Raskin should have had the situation under control as he muscled in on Matt O’Reilly, but the young Belgian was among four players who were caught at a standstill as Daizen Maeda nipped in to tee up Jota for the winning goal. And Lundstram admits his team are kicking themselves after yet missed opportunity.

The Scouse midfielder said: “Yeah - [the way we conceded] can’t happen. The ball is still in play and the ref hasn’t blown his whistle. We’ve got to play to the whistle. It’s our mistake again. That’s disappointing. We’re disappointed. I thought we played really well for large spells of the game. But when we got to the final pass, that last bit of quality wasn’t there and at the other end mistakes let us down again.

“We all want to win, we all want to do the right things, of course we do. But decision making at times has got to be better. It’s let us down, not just today but on numerous occasions. All the lads have got to rally round and have a big, big push now for the start of the season. We’re going to keep [what was said in the dressing room] obviously internal but of course the