Rangers assistant boss Ally McCoist feels his side’s recent 3-0 defeat at Celtic Park has inspired his side ahead of Wednesday’s Scottish Cup fifth-round replay against their fierce rivals at the same venue (match betting 90 minutes – Celtic evens, draw 12/5, Rangers 11/4).
Celtic appeared to take a significant step forward in their pursuit of the SPL title with the victory over Rangers on February 20 as a brace from Gary Hooper and a strike from Kris Commons condemned the Gers to defeat.
Rangers offered very little in the encounter last month and McCoist and boss Walter Smith have both admitted the Light Blues were not at their best but McCoist feels that result has revitalised their campaign.
Since the defeat at Celtic, Rangers have impressed and booked a spot in the last 16 of the Europa League with a 2-2 draw at Sporting Lisbon, with the Glasgow side progressing on the away-goal rule.
In their last SPL fixture Rangers saw off St Johnstone 4-0 at Ibrox, while Celtic lost 2-0 at Motherwell, and McCoist’s side now sit five points adrift of the Bhoys in the league table with two games in hand.
McCoist, who will take over as boss once Smith steps down at the end of the season, admits Rangers did not perform in their defeat at Celtic Park but feels the result has proved to be a catalyst for the Gers’ change in fortunes.
“If you get beat 1-0 and were unlucky, you could maybe paper over cracks and kid yourself on a bit,” said McCoist.
“After that performance, there was no kidding ourselves on.
“Hopefully it’s a lesson learned because we feel, as disappointing as we were and Celtic did play well, we can play a lot better than that, we can play miles better than that.”
Rangers will be without on-loan winger Vladimir Weiss as he suffered an ankle injury in the win over St Johnstone. Weiss has not been completely ruled out as yet but it appears highly unlikely he will feature and Smith has conceded he stands little chance of lining up against Celtic.
The Gers will also be without key man Steven Naismith and youngster Jamie Ness, while long-term absentees Kirk Broadfoot and Lee McCulloch will also miss the Old Firm showdown (Rangers 21/10 to win the Scottish Cup).
Celtic have no major injury concerns but they will be without on-loan goalkeeper Fraser Fortser and midfield playmaker Joe Ledley through suspension, meaning Lukasz Zaluska will start in goal (Celtic 15/8 to win the Scottish Cup).
There were six booking when the two sides last met at Celtic Park and the likes of Rangers forward El-Hadji Diouf and battling Celtic midfielder Scott Brown could certainly be in danger of picking up a card in the encounter.
Both Diouf and Brown are priced at 8/1 to receive the first yellow card of the game, as is Celtic defender Madjid Bougherra, and it is certainly an interesting market considering the passion that both sets of players will surely put into the Old Firm fixture.
Some reports have suggested Smith will employ a five-man defence, as he did with reasonable success in the Champions League earlier in the season, and the game could well be a tense affair.
Both sides are priced at 9/1 to win on penalties, while Rangers are 12/1 to win in extra-time and Celtic are 9/1.
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