THERE is only going to be one six in a row this season for Celtic after all.

A dozen successive leagues will be plundered within days but a late equaliser for Rangers at Parkhead means they won't make a clean sweep of Old Firm wins.

Brendan Rodgers’s players were well below best; indeed many of the big names under-performed, the defence was far from convincing and Rangers were the better team for long spells.

But the champions-elect were denied a blatant penalty right at the end. Referee Bobby Madden did not have a good match. His performance will be discussed for a long time.

A penny for the thoughts of Pedro Caixinha whose first day in the job was to watch his new team from the director’s box at Celtic Park.

What would have encouraged him was that there was fight, organisation, effort and attitude, all things which have been missing this season.

Well done to Graeme Murty. He changed the system with Lee Hodson coming at right back as James Tavernier was pushed into a crowded midfield. Martyn Waghorn and Kenny Miller made a front two.

It was, of course, fast and furious from the off - loud as well – and to think there are people who can’t see the Scottish game having any worth at all.

Rangers were 9/1 with some bookmakers but they started slightly the better. Celtic were not themselves in the opening moments with too many passes not finding their man. The men in blue, by contrast, appeared confident about what the task in hand.

In saying that, it was Celtic who sniffed out the first half chance. Waghorn was booked for a bad challenge on Nir Bitton after 18 minutes and from that lofted free-kick, Moussa Dembele got behind Danny Wilson just inside the Rangers box but his shot was weak.

But even when Celtic did get on the ball, they kept passing it backwards, unsure how to break through the blue line.

And on 24 minutes, that blue line should have been ahead.

A good move saw Kenny Miller flick the ball through a static Celtic defence for Waghorn to get a one-on-one with Craig Gordon. The striker did the right thing in giving himself a moment before shooting, but he couldn’t beat the foot of Gordon.

A good save, a bad miss.

Celtic came close to capitalising on that just before the half hour. Clint Hill conceded a free-kick 20 yards and dead centre from goal. Stuart Armstrong, who hadn’t been in the game, took the kick which beat the wall but not Foderingham who brilliantly got his fingertips to the ball.

However, he could do nothing about what happened on 35 minutes.

Celtic had the ball on the right but weren’t doing much with it to the extent Mikael Lustig passed the ball to Jason Holt who, instead of clearing, mostly missed the ball, which was soon at the left foot of Armstrong and the midfielder produced a stunning low finish that ended in the bottom corner.

What Caixinha then witnessed was his new team retreat into themselves. They are a not a team great at reacting to disappointment. The break came at a good time for Murty who needed to remind his players about all the good things they had been doing.

After a dull start to the half, Armstrong came close to a second on 55 minutes after some good, patient passing from Celtic allowed him to spin clear inside the box and Foderingham was equal to his shot.

Then a Danny Wilson mistake gave Dembele the opportunity to run at Hill, which he did, and then took on a not particularly good shot when he should have squared the ball.

Rodgers replaced Bitton with Callum McGregor at half-time and he did bring some pace to the Celtic midfield.

But the game slowed down something rotten for quite a time.

Armstrong and Foderingham renewed their relationship, one having really good effort on goal, the other saving it, on 66 minutes. Four minutes later Rangers passed up a great chance to draw level.

The Celtic back four were sleeping and allowed Miller to get down the right wing, he picked out Waghorn who had ran back from an offside position and the Englishman’s first time effort was saved by Gordon.

There was a big moment with ten minutes to go. Holt robbed Patrick Roberts, Celtic claimed a foul which wasn’t forthcoming, and the Rangers man then curled a shot inches wide.

Then came Rangers’ moment with three minutes to go.

Celtic got what they deserved in a lot of ways. They were poor at the back all day and sat too deep as Emerson Hyndman shot, Gordon got a hand to it and Hill was on hand to tap the ball home.

But there was still time for controversy.

A ball over the top meant Griffiths was the wrong side of Hill who brought him down inside the box. Mr Madden saw nothing. Celtic supporters saw red. It was to finish a draw.

Celtic (4-2-3-1): Gordon; Lustig, Boyata, Sviatchenko, Tierney; Brown, Bitton (McGregor 45), Forrest (Roberts 67), Armstrong (Griffiths 72), Sinclair; Dembele

Substitutes not used: De Vries, Simunovic, Gamboa, Koussi

Rangers (4-5-1): Forderingham; Hodson, Hill, Wilson, Wallace; Tavernier, Hyndman, Holt (Forrester 80), McKay (Windass 59); Miller, Waghorn (O’Halloran 83)

Substitutes not used: Alnwick, Dodoo, Forrester, Senderos, Bates,

Referee: Bobby Madden