RANGERS striker Kenny Miller, who captained his side in the defeat to Celtic yesterday, says the Ibrox side showed far too much respect to the Premiership champions as they crashed out of the Scottish Cup in meek fashion at Hampden.

Celtic’s dominance in the first half in particular upset Miller, who was disgusted by the amount of time and space that Rangers allowed their opponents as they dictated the game to rack up an unassailable two-goal lead just after the interval.

It was only then that Pedro Caixinha’s men managed a counter-punch or two as they created the odd chance at the other end, but it was too little, too late, and for Miller the performance from his side was simply unacceptable.

“We never got out the traps, gave them too much respect and too much time on the ball,” Miller said. “We allowed them to do pretty much whatever they wanted with the ball and it was similar to the opening game of the season at Parkhead.

“The only positive was we only went in at half-time 1-0 down and had a chance to regroup and make personnel and shape changes which helped us going into the second half.

“Then we lost a poor goal five minutes into the second half given the ball went from their box all the other way up the end of the field. I thought Tavernier was getting there, but it was a clear penalty and we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

“As much as we didn’t play well we still had three or four chances in the second half and we needed to take at least one of them which would have allowed us to have those last, frantic few minutes to put the ball into their box and put them under pressure,” he added. “We never took our chances when we came and in these games it’s vital you do.

“The manner of the defeat was difficult to take. Whether it’s individuals not doing the job or maybe not understanding the job, but we definitely gave them too much respect.”

Miller led an on-field inquest during the first half to try to jolt his team-mates into action after their desperately poor opening to the match.

“We were trying to sort things out because we weren’t in the game. I dread to see the possession stats at that time in the match – they had the ball the whole time and we were allowing it.

“We were set up in a certain way, to be hard to beat and hard to play through, but there has to be a time when you get some kind of pressure on the ball and not allow them to have the run of Hampden, because that’s what they had that first half.

“We were trying to find wee answers and ways to play our way back into the game. Half-time couldn’t come quickly enough and going in 1-0 down was the only positive we could take.”

Miller isn’t consoled by the fact that Rangers have an immediate chance to make amends as they welcome Celtic to Ibrox next week, but he hopes that his team-mates can absorb some of the lessons dished out to them by their great rivals both in the short and long-term.