PA MediaDerek McInnes has urged Rangers fans to ‘have their backs, not be on their backs’ against Celtic at Ibrox.
The Old Firm rivals go head-to-head for the first time this season in Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final.
With no Celtic fans in attendance, there will be 50,000 home supporters in the stands as Derek McInnes makes his debut in the fixture as a manager.
The former Ibrox midfielder has urged fans to capitalise on the home support as they bid to book a spot in the semi-final at Hampden.
“You’re not going to play Celtic and dominate the game for 90 minutes. We’ll have spells, they’ll have spells, that’s just the way it is,” he said.
“I think it’s important that we tap into having that 50,000 behind us. Be behind the players, support them, have their backs, not be on their backs and really make it as tough for Celtic as possible.
“We’ve got our part to play in that and I feel if we can capitalise on good play and good opportunities, which we didn’t do last night, and we haven’t done against Motherwell, obviously, if we can get ourselves in front, give the crowd something to get behind then the strength of our club can be shown.
“I think if the 50,000 can be utilized, and we can have the strength of performance in the team that will help the team, we will be difficult to stop.”
Rangers earned their fourth consecutive win last night with substitute Bojan Miovski’s late strike sealing all three points against St Mirren.
But the Ibrox boss is mindful that Celtic could pose a greater threat than anything his side have faced so far this season.
He said: “We recognise Celtic are a good team who have been the main title winners and the team that’s picked up more trophies than any other club in recent years.
“We just want to make sure we give ourselves a chance to be relevant domestically again in terms of winning trophies and Sunday gives us a chance to take a step towards that.”
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