Celtic's 1-0 defeat of Rangers on March 2 sparked a summit between the police, Scottish Government, the football authorities and both clubs, with the ramifications seeing both sets of players visited by police officers on Friday to be reminded of their wider responsibilities.

But Naismith believes there has been too much made of the Celtic Park clash, which saw Rangers players sent off and Celtic manager Neil Lennon and Rangers assistant Ally McCoist handed touchline bans for their post-match clash.

The Scotland midfielder, who missed the game through injury, insists it will not feature in the players' thoughts when they take to the field for the Old Firm final at Hampden.

"It was in the papers for quite a while and I think that was probably part of the problem," Naismith said. "After the game punishments were served out, the people that mattered said their piece and everybody should move on from there. "It shouldn't be a case of dragging it out to the next game and now we're sitting here talking about it again. "Sunday is a totally different game, it's at Hampden, it's one of the major fixtures of the season, the first silverware up for grabs. "That's what both teams are going to be thinking about, not the last Old Firm game."

Naismith downplayed the police visit and claimed the focus on players' behaviour would have little impact on preparations.

"We will sit down and talk about the way we want to play, it won't be about not making this tackle or that tackle, we will be talking about the way we want to play and how we get a result," he said. "Every week you go out and there are tackles to be made and this will be no different."

The furore over the previous encounter overshadowed Celtic's increasing dominance of the fixture having triumphed in three out of four encounters in 2011, with the other a 2-2 draw which followed Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster's red card.

Naismith went off at half-time in the 3-0 league defeat by Celtic on February 20 after aggravating a hamstring injury and he is determined to enjoy a better result.

"We've probably not got a point to prove but the last couple of games we have been beaten and it's never a great feeling coming off an Old Firm game being beaten, so we want to change the outcome," he said. "The last game the sending-off changed the game totally. Celtic were good enough to keep the ball and they did that night. "The league game we maybe got caught cold but every Old Firm game is different and I'm sure Sunday will be as well."

Naismith returned to action at the halfway stage of Thursday night's 1-0 Europa League defeat by PSV Eindhoven, helping to transform the team's performance following a poor first half.

And he is confident he has finally shaken off the hamstring injury that first troubled him after a Christmas Day road accident. "I'm feeling good and feeling sharp, that was the main objective when I went out, that when I came back I was strong enough and able to go straight back into a game."