Livingston boss David Martindale insists the brilliance of Premiership champions Celtic made a repeat of their stirring draw against Rangers an improbable task.
The Lions boss was saluted for his tactical chops after going to Ibrox and nullifying Gio van Bronckhorst' s side last weekend. However, Livingston had little answers for the Premiership champions on home turf as Ange Postecoglou's men romped to a 3-0 cruise in West Lothian to maintain their four-point advantage atop the summit.
Martindale was asked what was the difference between the performances of his team eight days' apart and he offered up a crystal clear answer. Speaking on Livi TV, he said: " Celtic, Celtic (are the difference), at this point time. I am not going to say are a far better team than Rangers, they are in a far better place as a team, in terms of momentum and confidence. I think the league is Celtic's to lose, I think we were coming up against a better opponent, I don't mean that disrespectful to Rangers, I think we were coming up against a different opponent today.
"I knew that coming into the game. Last week going to Ibrox I genuinely felt we could take something from the game.
"I knew we needed a little bit of luck at times to stay in the game, a lot of different variables, it's a big ask. The difference between the two games? Celtic's the difference. They are in a really good place as a club, they are the best team in the league at this point of time, they are the team to stop, basically Celtic were the difference today."
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