STEVE SIMONSEN hopes Rangers can take some comfort from their second half showing at Hampden - despite being outclassed by Old Firm rivals Celtic.

Kenny McDowall's side missed out on a place in the League Cup final as first half goals from Leigh Griffiths and Kris Commons clinched a comfortable win for the Hoops.

It was a disappointing day all round for Rangers as they failed to get to grips with their Glasgow rivals, with a lack of cutting edge evident as keeper Craig Gordon enjoyed a trouble-free afternoon.

The introduction of Jon Daly at the break and switch to a 4-4-2 formation by McDowall heralded an improvement in the second half as the Gers looked more threatening but there was little chance of a remarkable comeback.

Rangers were left to lick their wounds as the Hoops celebrated at the other end of the National Stadium.

Simonsen said: "We seemed to be able to keep the ball up the pitch a little better. Jon did well, he can win balls and hold things up and that's maybe what we were missing first half.

"We were disappointed with ourselves first-half and we were certainly better second-half.

"We knew if we wanted to stay in the cup we were going to have to do something about it. We were certainly happier with the second-half performance.

"People thought it was going to be a one-sided game and after the first half-hour people might have thought that was the way it was going.

"But we said in there at the break that even though it was 2-0 we weren't out of the game. If we pinched ourselves a goal you never know what might happen.

"We've been on the end of one of those ourselves this season. We kept plugging away but it didn't happen and we'll take a little bit out of the second-half performance and move on."

While Simonsen will hope to be back at Hampden on Rangers duty for the Scottish Cup final in May, the keeper will have to return to the Mount Florida in a couple of days to answer an SFA gambling charge.

A hearing date has been set for February 12 after he was issued a Notice of Complaint last month but the Englishman insists the off-field drama hasn't affect his football focus.

He said: "I've been fine. I've had issues but I can't and I won't discuss them right now. We'll see what happens in a couple of weeks.

"I've had plenty to concentrate on to keep my mind off things.

"I'll continue to do that until I'm hauled up in front of the boys here in a couple of weeks.

"It hasn't been hard to prepare, these are the types of games every player wants to be involved in.

"It's been good having this game on the horizon, you can get away from anything else that's going on and get your teeth into it. In terms of that I'm delighted to have been involved in a game like this but obviously disappointed with the result."