CONFIRMED REPORT;Philip Clement has given up and submitted his resignation letter

Sunday was an absolutely sickening afternoon for all of a Rangers persuasion, with the Ibrox side defeated by fierce rivals Celtic in the League Cup Final in the most heartbreaking fashion imaginable.

Fair to say Glasgow’s big two served up a thriller.

Nedim Bajrami fired the Light Blues in front on the cusp of half-time at Hampden, only for Celtic to lead 2-1 and then 3-2 in the second half, but Mohamed Diomande and then Danilo hit back, the latter with a towering header mere moments after his team had fallen behind.

This forced extra time and, ultimately, a penalty shootout; just the second shootout in Glasgow derby history.

Nine of the ten spot-kicks were scored, but somebody had to miss and that someone turned out to be Ridvan Yilmaz, his tame attempt saved by Kasper Schmeichel, meaning it was Celtic who once again hoisted aloft the trophy.

From Philippe Clement’s point-of-view, he is still yet to beat Celtic in six attempts, but there are certainly signs his team are moving in the right direction, making the next Premiership Old Firm fixture at Ibrox as soon as 2 January so crucial.

Rangers players starting to show their best

Of course, Sunday’s shootout defeat was devastating, but it was another sign of progress from Rangers.

Three days earlier, they’d held Tottenham Hotspur to a 1-1 draw in the Europa League, unfortunate not to win that one, having scored nine goals across back-to-back Premiership victories against Kilmarnock and Ross County beforehand.

A key factor behind the Gers’ recent resurgence has been the emergence of Hamza Igamane.

The striker arrived from AS FAR in his native Morocco for £2.5m last summer, having minimal impact before opening his account against FCSB in late October, before scoring five in five between 28 November and 12 December, bagging a brace against Nice, before breaking the deadlock when Spurs visited Govan last Thursday.