DAVID TURNBULL says that Celtic showed how good a team they were even in defeat to Rangers, and it was plain bad luck that stopped them leaving Ibrox with at least a point.

The 1-0 defeat leaves Celtic with a mountain to climb if they are to defend their Premiership crown, but Turnbull believes they have shown they have the class to mount an unlikely comeback at the top of the table.

“We showed against Rangers that we are a quality team," he said. "We dominated large parts of the match until the sending off.

“Even at half-time we really felt we could go on and win the game.

“We created a lot of chances but clearly we need to start taking them. That’s probably the most frustrating part.

“Given the amount of chances we created we were unable to take any of them. That’s something we have to work on.

“It’s a tough one to take. Until the red card I thought we were playing really well and we were in complete control of the game.

“I felt we were causing them a lot of problems, especially in the first half and we carried that into the second half.

“It’s just unlucky that we didn’t take anything from the game."

Turnbull, like his manager Neil Lennon, was surprised to see referee Bobby Madden produce a red card for Nir Bitton when he pulled down Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos, believing it not be a clear goalscoring opportunity.

And he is adamant that Celtic would have continued to dominate proceedings were it not for the dismissal of the Israeli just after the hour.

“I don’t know about the red card, it changed the game of that there is no doubt," he said.

“I thought big Kris Ajer was coming in behind so I felt the cover was there.

“As soon as I saw the ref I thought it was a bit of a soft one, I’m certainly not sure about it."