Emmanuel Fernandez has refused to make excuses for Rangers’ failure to win the Scottish Premiership title following their disappointing 3-1 defeat to Celtic FC at Celtic Park on Sunday afternoon.

The Super Eagles centre-back, who joined Rangers from Peterborough United last summer., featured throughout the encounter as the defeat effectively ended Rangers’ hopes in the title race with only two matches remaining this season.

Fernandez admitted the team failed to show enough resilience during crucial moments of the campaign and accepted personal responsibility for aspects of his performance.

“I couldn’t pinpoint an issue,” Fernandez was quoted as saying by Daly Record. “But I just feel like maybe we needed to have a bit more fight. I can’t say we have been unlucky.”

“I can take stick for it because there are certain moments I probably should have defended better. There is nothing I can say about my teammates - I will probably just look at myself, if anything.”

Fernandez also stressed that the squad must learn from the difficult moments experienced this season, insisting the team still possesses the quality to improve moving forward.

“Yes, 100 percent I totally understand that. We knew it was going to be a fight. There were moments in games where we had to fight. But in football there are going to be moments where you struggle and go under in the 90 minutes.

“I feel that, as a young team if we are going to grow, you are going to struggle but you stick together and defend together. Then, when you come out of it, you have opportunities to score. That is something we have to improve on,” he added.

Looking ahead to Rangers’ remaining fixtures against Hibernian and Falkirk., Fernandez apologised to supporters and urged the squad to finish the season strongly before regrouping for next term.

 “Look, we’re disappointed. We know that we should have done better in the last three games,” Fernandez noted.

“We feel sorry for the fans. But now we have to pick ourselves up. There are two games to go and we have to win these two games for the fans. When next season comes we’ll have a good side.“First and foremost I apologise to the fans.

“But I feel like there are still a lot of strong players here, young players, who are going to be in their second season. They can show they are really worth it and are going to fight.”

The 24-year-old enjoyed an impressive campaign with Rangers despite initial doubts surrounding his ability when he first arrived at the club, scoring six goals in 31 appearances across all competitions.

His outstanding performances also earned him a maiden call-up to the Nigeria national team, where he made his debut in the 2-1 victory over Iran national football team before scoring his first international goal on his full debut against Jordan a few days later.

Adeyemi Adewale