Celtic right-back Alistair Johnston has vowed to ensure he and his teammates bounce back from yesterday’s heavy loss to Rangers at Ibrox.

The Hoops were nowhere near the required level throughout the match, faltering to a deserved 3-0 defeat.

Ianis Hagi opened the scoring early on before Robin Propper got the second just after the hour mark. Substitute Danilo wrapped things up late on.

Losing to the Gers isn’t a frequent occurrence for Celtic; yesterday was the first time they had suffered defeat in a Glasgow derby since May 2023, under Ange Postecoglou, when the league was already won.

It was only the second time across both of his Parkhead spells that current boss Brendan Rodgers had lost to the Gers, too, adding testament to how unusual the result was.

Although Celtic are still 11 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, Thursday’s game raised several concerns.

Defender Johnston, though, vowed that he and his teammates will bounce back: “We’re just going to get back to playing the football how we expect to play,” he said (The Celtic Way).

“That wasn’t anywhere near the level that we set out that this Celtic group can play at. I can imagine our supporters are very disappointed with that. So now it’s up to us to have an instant rebound here and really show that we’re not going to let this dwell on us.

That’s one of the benefits of this crazy period, having this many matches in January, is that it’s going to be a match after a match here. So, it’s time to get back on it.”

Celtic have the perfect chance to bounce back from yesterday’s loss with back-to-back home games.

St. Mirren make the short trip to Glasgow’s east end this Sunday before Dundee United travel down to face the champions the following Wednesday.

Six points is the minimum requirement as Rodgers and Co. look to get back on track.