BILLY KIRKWOOD hopes his Rangers kids will learn from their mistakes after they lost 4-0 to Celtic in the Glasgow Cup final last night.

Goals from Michael Johnston, Broque Watson, Shaun Bowers and Kieran Patrick Campbell clinched a comfortable win for the Hoops as they won the trophy for the third year in succession.

Boss Mark Warburton watched on from the stand as the Gers looked to continue their impressive record against their Old Firm rivals at this level this term.

Kirkwood handed a start to playmaker Liam Burt and Jack Thomson was also given a chance to impress.

But it was to prove a tough night for the Light Blues kids as they couldn’t make their possession count and saw their efforts go unrewarded at Ibrox.

A four goal defeat was harsh on Kirkwood’s kids, though, and the Murray Park boss is keen to take the positives out of a promising campaign overall.

He said: “Celtic deserved to win but it is the first game they have beaten us in five. I didn’t expect that, the players didn’t expect that.

“The first goal, for us or for them, was a big factor. We started really well and we had a couple of good occasions in the first five minutes.

“If we had converted it, psychologically it gives us a lift and psychologically for Celtic they are thinking ‘here we go again’.

“The first two goals were poor individual mistakes. The first one, it looked like we had the opportunity to counter attack, the defender didn’t deal with it and it fell for the Celtic striker, who tucked it away nicely.

“In the second half, the first eight, ten minutes until Celtic scored the third one, it was all us. The keeper had a couple of good saves but again there was a slack pass that allowed Celtic to counter and the deflected goal took the wind out of our sails.

“I think, over the piece, we have been good in the season, very good in bits, and we have players going up to the first team and up to the 20s.

“In games like this, especially at Ibrox and against Celtic, you learn more about your players rather than just winning all the time.

“Individual mistakes, as a unit, defenders, midfielders, strikers. Can we do better? I think we can.

“We have a lot of improvement in a lot of the players and a lot of that group will be going up to the 20s. It is a long road and hopefully they can learn from their mistakes.”