What Michael Beale told Rangers players in unflinching post mortem as major truth bomb dropped on 'judgment day'

Unflinching Michael Beale gathered his beaten players on the Hampden turf and ordered them to suck up the bitter feeling of defeat in an Old Firm cup final to make them stronger for the future.

The Rangers boss suffered the first defeat of his Ibrox tenure as his team went down 2-1 to Celtic in the Viaplay Cup Final and Beale admitted his team got what it deserved. And he brought them together on the pitch after Nick Walsh’s final whistle to hammer home the message that improvement is needed if they are to challenge their rivals from across the city, who still have a Treble in their sights.

Beale said: “I told them to suck it up. It’s not nice, but on the day we didn’t come to the game until the second half in my opinion, so no qualms. On the day we lost the game and it’s not nice, so suck it up, get on board. You have to look at yourself in the mirror every day and that’s your biggest opponent. Are you being honest with that person? Are we working hard enough? Is the work we’re doing good enough?

“These are the days that we are judged on. We have to win the other games, but on these days this is when judgment day comes and we get it. We take it on. So that was what we spoke about in that brief moment there. I didn’t want anyone making any false opinions in their mind. We lost the game.”

Beale stood by his decision to keep new signings Nico Raskin and Todd Cantwell on the bench at the start of the game - with both players making a difference when coming on after an hour.

He added: “That same team played ever so well at the Old Firm at New Year and it put in the best performance in terms of 90 minutes since I’ve come back away at Hearts. On that night, we were excellent. Malik Tillman and the front three had been in fine