Andy Halliday: If Scott Brown was trying to noise me up at Hampden it didn't work

As the Celtic captain came to terms with a defeat that has piled the pressure on boss Ronny Deila, his Ibrox counterpart partied with the Light Blue legions and savoured the success on Sunday night.

It was said that the Rangers star wouldn’t be able to keep his head in the heat of Old Firm combat at Hampden. He was, apparently, going to get caught up in the occasion as he made his first appearance against Celtic.

Come the end of an enthralling encounter, the only emotion Halliday had was joy. His performance was exemplary, his penalty to kick-off the shoot-out cool and composed.

Celtic skipper Brown gave his midfield opponent a glare as he made his way down the Gers side and shook hands before battle commenced. If he was trying to get into Halliday’s head, it didn’t work.

It was the Rangers man who ran the show from the middle of the park in a tireless display, and who made no mistake from twelve yards before Brown fluffed his lines and Celtic crashed to derby defeat.

Halliday said: “He probably was [trying to noise me up]. You see that in every sport really.

“Cricket is supposed to be a gentleman’s game but you see sledging and what they say to each other.

“It is going to happen on the big stage. I don’t know, maybe he was trying to get in my head but it wasn’t going to happen.

“We were all set to enjoy the game. Scott Brown is the captain of the national team, he has had a wonderful career and he is obviously a big player for Celtic.

“But I am just happy we done what we done and concentrated on ourselves. That was the reason we got the result.

“Of course it would be easy to get sucked into it but I was already in that mental state that I was ready for the game. The hardest part of the Old Firm is the anticipation.

“You just want the game to start because you are constantly thinking about the game. You want to conserve your energy because it is easy to build up nervous energy and by the time you are out there you are mentally drained before you are physically drained.

“I was happy to keep my emotions in check and anything that happened beforehand didn’t faze me. I just got on with it.”

Halliday was not the only player in Mark Warburton’s side who rose to the occasion at Hampden as the Light Blues moved to within 90 minutes of a third trophy success this season.

The Gers were written off by many ahead of the Old Firm showdown but emerged as deserved winners at the end of a dramatic derby day.

And Halliday was pleased the champions silenced their critics as they set up a meeting with second tier counterparts Hibernian next month.

He said: “We were certainly aware of it because I think we are a team that has been written off quite a lot this season.

“There were a lot of questions asked after the St Johnstone game about whether our style of play could cope in the Premiership.

“Not that many people fancied us going into the Dundee game, or going into the Hibs game at Ibrox after we had that mini-blip. We have answered a lot of questions and none more so than on Sunday.

“Of course, Celtic were going into the game as favourites. They are top of the Premiership and obviously a good team.

“But we were certainly confident enough in our own ability. We feel that if we play to our strengths then we are a hard team to stop.”

After two Hampden triumphs against Peterhead and Celtic, Rangers will return to league action when they make the trip to Easter Road this evening.

Only Alloa, Livingston and St Mirren will remain on the Championship fixture list for Warburton’s side and they will face a three week break between their Saints clash and return to the National Stadium.

It is a situation for Warburton to ponder, but a problem that Halliday is more than happy to have.

He said: “We have said since the start of the season that every competition we are in we wanted to try and win it. We have won two already and it was disappointing to go out early in the League Cup.

“We had no holidays planned because we have always had May 21 marked on the calendar hoping to get there.

“You never know [if the break will be a problem]. I have never experienced that.

“But you look at the play-off final last year and Motherwell had a break before playing Rangers and they looked the fresher team. It can work both ways and we will need to see how it goes.”

It has been a campaign to remember for Warburton, his players and the Ibrox crowd so far as they stormed to the Championship title and partied against Peterhead after lifting the Petrofac Cup.

If they can go all the way and parade more silverware at Hampden, it would be a huge achievement for the newly assembled Light Blues group and another leap forward on the road to recovery.

And Halliday is determined to end his first season at Ibrox on a high note as he bids for a third medal to cherish this term.

He said: “When we won the league we said it was a good season. Going into the Petrofac game we said it is the difference between a good season and a great season.

“Going into the Celtic game we said it was the difference between a great season and a magnificent season. If we win the Scottish Cup and get into Europe, it is a perfect season.

“It can’t get much better than that. It just shows how far the squad, the staff, the fans have come.

“People say the journey is ending but really it is just beginning and it shows how far the club has come in the last twelve months.”