Rangers confident despite form slump

Rangers boss Ally McCoist insists his side are confident going to Celtic in Wednesday’s Old Firm derby despite their recent dip in form.

McCoist watched as his side were beaten 2-1 away at St Mirren on Christmas Eve after having two players sent off, and Rangers are now only one point ahead of rivals Celtic, who won 2-1 at home to Kilmarnock on the same day.

Rangers lead over their Glasgow rivals, which once stood at 15 points, has now shrunk to one point, yet McCoist is confident his side will be ready for the Parkhead clash despite the momentum being with Neil Lennon’s men.

“We will be ready for the game, I can guarantee you that,” McCoist told The Guardian.

“It’s going to be a tough game but we will be ready and the players won’t need lifted for that one because it’s a big, big game.”

“I take where you are coming from, Celtic are on a good run of form at the moment in terms of victories. But it counts for absolutely nothing.”

“The truth of the matter is I would rather be a point ahead than a point behind. Of that there is no doubt.”

Rangers will be without centre-back Dorin Goian after his dismissal on Saturday, yet McCoist could select Lee McCulloch despite his sending off in the same fixture, as the 49-year-old is set to appeal against the striker’s red card, with the hearing unlikely to take place before Thursday.

As for the Romanian international Goian, McCoist added: “We’ve got one or two other things we can do. We’ve got Kyle Bartley and Kirk Broadfoot and Davie Weir and boys like that.”

“As disappointing as it is, and we would rather not have that situation, it’s not something that we can’t handle.”

Meanwhile, Lennon will be looking for his side to redeem themselves following their 4-2 defeat at Ibrox in September.

Lennon said: “We didn’t do ourselves justice at Ibrox so I am looking to my team to be highly motivated and certainly play better and compete better than they did in the second 45 minutes of the first Old Firm game.”

“If they do that they will give themselves a great chance of winning the game.”