There were shades of Barry Ferguson in Dan Neil's performance on Sunday as Rangers stormed into the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals at Celtic's expense. That was the verdict of Ferguson's former team-mate at Ibrox, Peter Lovenkrands, who was blown away by the former Sunderland midfielder after he scored twice in the 3-0 win. "Dan Neil ran the show from the start," Lovenkrands said on BBC Radio Scotland.
"On the ball he never lost a pass, simple things, he was doing everything right. "I've not seen a performance like that since Barry Ferguson in the way he controlled the midfield." The 24-year-old deservedly put Rangers in front on 23 minutes with a crisp low finish from the edge of the box and he capped off a fine team display with another emphatic finish late on. "He popped up with goals, not just any goals, top-class finishes," Lovenkrands added.
"It was an outstanding performance." Rangers overwhelm meek Celtic to clinch semi-final spot Rangers v Aberdeen & Edinburgh derby in League Cup semis Neil signed a three-year deal at Ibrox in July and was immediately instilled as part of Derek McInnes' leadership group. He once again wore the captain's armband in Lawrence Shankland's absence and rose to the occasion of his first Old Firm derby, excelling in the middle of the park alongside Nicolas Raskin and James Penrice, who inverted from left-back. "Dan is going to get highlighted for his goals - two different types of finishes - but we knew we could occupy that space on the edge of the box if we attacked properly," manager McInnes said.
"You still need people to step up and show their quality and Dan did that. His performance was really strong as well, as was Nico and wee James in there. "The three of them were terrific and it played a big part in us getting some sort of ascendancy in the game." Neil has grown in stature in recent weeks, but this was his finest performance in a Rangers shirt to date, getting the better of proven performers Callum McGregor and Benjamin Nygren.
At one point, Neil spun McGregor and left the Celtic captain in his wake. It was reflective of Rangers' dominance throughout the 90 minutes and Neil's own excellent showing. "It was a great team performance," Neil told Premier Sports.
"We fully deserved the victory out there. "In the last few games we've done well without the ball. Today we wanted to use the crowd and get after them - the lads executed it perfectly." Neil was also quick to praise McInnes' pre-match team talk and how well prepared Rangers were for such a big game.
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