James Penrice vows to go through the gears and build on Rangers improvement

James Penrice believes there are “more gears” to go through at Rangers while also urging caution following their emphatic Old Firm win on Sunday.

Derek McInnes began his tenure as Gers boss with elimination from two European competitions at the qualifying stage but had allayed some concerns with four successive wins before the visit of Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup.

The comprehensive 3-0 quarter-final victory over the Hoops elevated that feel-good factor immeasurably but a stung Celtic side will get the chance of revenge when the two sides meet in the William Hill Premiership at Celtic Park on Sunday.

Left-back Penrice, on loan from Greek side AEK Athens, was speaking at the launch of the Rangers Charity Foundation’s partnership with Down’s Syndrome Scotland at Ibrox and the 27-year-old said: “I definitely think we’ve got more gears to go, but at the same time I’m very wary that it’s one game at a time.

“There’s evidence that it’s a lot better, but let’s not get too far in front of ourselves.

“Sunday’s massive, and ultimately we need to go there and win the game, so we’ll be looking to do that.

“But definitely it feels like a real team, and that’s probably the biggest compliment I can give the boys, and for the manager as well, as we’ve created that from a difficult position.

“We’ve managed to turn it, but it’s not fully turned yet, we’ve still got a lot of work to do and it’s definitely one game at a time.

“I think the gaffer will probably say it, we’re not the end product, we’re not there yet.”

There were no away fans inside Ibrox at the order of the authorities amid a ticket allocation spat between the two Glasgow giants, following crowd trouble at last season’s Scottish Cup quarter-final.

Celtic supporters will in turn have the 60,000-capacity stadium to themselves this Sunday but Penrice said: “From our players’ point of view, we don’t go there and worry about fans.

“We think the game will be different. They’ll probably change stuff, we’ll probably change stuff.

“It’ll be a different game but we’ll go there with the mindset that we’re going to win, and that’s what you need to do as a Rangers player.

“You need to go to these places and win.”

Playing in his first Old Firm game, Penrice was deployed in midfield to great effect.

He said: “The gaffer and I spoke at length about the decision to go inside and play a different role, and I think it worked.

“I think as soon as you’ve seen the game kicked off, you’ve just seen me take off. I’ll play absolutely anywhere.

“I think if you’d have told me at maybe 21, 22 that I’d get to play in an Old Firm match, I’d have probably laughed at you.

“But for me the last few months, it’s just been brilliant.

“Obviously the lows of Europe and stuff like that, but I genuinely love coming into the building every day, love coming into training, and I love playing football.”