This felt like a seismic moment for Rangers. The scale of Steven Gerrard’s celebrations at full-time certainly suggested so. A first victory at Parkhead since 2010 stands out as the finest moment of Gerrard’s short managerial career and has fuelled the sense that maybe, just maybe, there will be a Scottish title race worthy of the name.

Rangers trail Celtic by two points but have a game in hand. Even more valuable, perhaps, will be the level of belief derived by Gerrard and his team on account of this result.

The record books will show a narrow win for Rangers when, in truth, they were the better team by a considerable margin. Neil Lennon was perfectly candid about that when bemoaning a lack of “physicality” in his team. “Our passing was poor,” he said.

Celtic 1-2 Rangers: Scottish Premiership – as it happened Read more

“Off the ball, we were stand-offish and that’s not like us. Some will have a look at their game and be disappointed,” the Celtic manager said, “but that’s fine. We can’t encapsulate a whole season in one game. What it’s been so far is absolutely tremendous. We are bitterly disappointed and we say that to the supporters as well.”

Those fans are not accustomed to grim times; Celtic had not lost a meaningful domestic match at home since December 2015 before Rangers inflicted a bloody nose. Galling for Lennon is that a warning preceded the defeat, given Rangers were also the better side during this month’s League Cup final.

Meetings of these old adversaries rarely pass without incident. With the clock showing 94 minutes, Rangers’ Alfredo Morelos was shown a second yellow card for diving. A subsequent touchline melee concluded with Michael Beale, Gerrard’s first‑team coach, being shown a red card after a quite amusing explosion of temper. That Morelos wandered up the tunnel while making throat-slitting gestures did nothing to boost the sense the Colombian has tamed his erratic ways.

Gerrard had no problem with Morelos’s dismissal but said Christopher Jullien should have been sent off for a foul on Morelos moments earlier. “I think his emotions got the better of him,” Gerrard said of Morelos. Were Rangers trailing, this scenario would have been easier to comprehend.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nikola Katic gave Rangers a 2-1 lead with a bullet header. Photograph: Stuart Wallace/BPI/Shutterstock

Gerrard wanted to focus on the more endearing aspects of Rangers’ performance. Ryan Kent went a long way towards justifying his £7m transfer fee from Liverpool with a terrific opener. The controversial equaliser claimed by Odsonne Édouard was rendered irrelevant when Nikola Katic powered home the winning header. “It’s a big moment for the team and the club,” Gerrard said. “It’s been through too much pain here, too many defeats and setbacks and knocks, so it’s a big win, a huge win.

“We’ve come here and dominated against a very good team, a successful team, a team we’ve got respect for what they’ve achieved. But I’m so proud and pleased with the performance the players have put in.”

The shape of the game was clear from its early stages. Rangers were sharper and more cohesive. Celtic’s key attacking threats – James Forrest, Édouard and Ryan Christie – struggled to impose themselves. And yet, Celtic were handed a golden chance to open the scoring after Katic hauled down Jullien inside the area. Christie, as rather summed up his afternoon, saw his spot-kick batted away by Allan McGregor.

This was to prove a brief Celtic flirtation with the Rangers goal. Kent delivered a finish of high quality after Borna Barisic flicked the ball into his path. That the visitors did not head into the break with the lead owed plenty to fortune, Callum McGregor’s harmless shot flicking off the hand of Édouard and bouncing past McGregor. With the benefit of VAR, the goal would not have stood.

Any lingering Rangers sense of injustice – Gerrard had waited to have words with the referee, Kevin Clancy, at half-time – was erased by Katic. The centre-back rose to meet a corner from his fellow Croat, Barisic, to afford Rangers the advantage their play merited.

Jullien forced Steven Davis to kick a header off the Rangers goalline and McGregor saved smartly from Boli Bolingoli but Celtic did not play with a level of conviction that suggested they would claim a point. Rangers were calm and comfortable until Morelos’s needless act of simulation.

“I’m sure that’s given them a shot in the arm,” Lennon said, “but we are not prepared to give up anything. And we won’t.” Time will tell on that front.