Owen Coyle has admitted he was expecting a thrilling second half of the Scottish Premiership season if Rangers could maintain their form as he was sure Celtic would pick up.
Rangers were giving the Bhoys a run for their money in this season’s Scottish Premiership after the Gers beat Celtic at Parkhead, cutting their lead down to two points in the end of December, while they also had a game in hand.
However, Celtic came back from the winter break in phenomenal form and Rangers could not live with the Bhoys' consistency, as their own form collapsed.
Coyle feels the Hoops know how to bounce back after a tough time and was expecting them to hit the ground running in the new year..
He admits he was looking forward to a thrilling title battle, but knew it would be down to Rangers to maintain their form for that to happen.
"They [Celtic] know how when they’ve had a bad day – as they had in that game just before New Year [against Rangers] – when you’ve had that punch in the nose, they know how to bounce back”, Coyle was quoted as saying by the Evening Times.
“They know they’ve got that character within the dressing room; they know how to get themselves back up to the level they were again.
"And that’s why I thought ‘the second half season is going to be great, if Rangers can sustain it’, because Celtic are going to ramp it up as they always do in those last months of the season.
"Two defeats and two draws – that shows you in terms of the level of consistency they’ve had. It’s incredible."
Celtic have now picked up nine top flight titles in a row and the onus will be on Rangers to stop their rivals next season.
