Boyd relishes pressure being put on Old Firm rivals

Published on Saturday 21 February 2009 21:26

THE "over to you" aspect of Rangers' win over Kilmarnock yesterday was not lost on goalscorer Kris Boyd. The striker believes the victory could weigh heavily on Celtic, who go into their encounter at Motherwell today lagging behind their rivals in the championship race for the first time in four months.

"The pressure's on Celtic now to go and beat Motherwell and go back to the top," said Boyd after the 3-1 win at Ibrox that gave Rangers a point advantage at the top of the table. "That's a difficult game; a difficult place to go. They now have the pressure of us being above them." It is not a pressure that is going to go away soon, with Rangers meeting Hamilton at lunchtime next Saturday before Celtic host St Mirren later that day. "Whatever happens at Motherwell, we have the chance to go back above them by winning at Hamilton."

As games start to be counted down rather than counted up, with only 12 league matches remaining, Walter Smith believes his men may be coming into their stride at just the right time. Results may have been largely uneven but the Rangers manager is willing to look beyond scorelines.

"In the last few seasons, Celtic have been able to get the consistency required to be champions," he said. "We have to be able to show we can get that. That's the challenge and at this part of the season we have been as consistent, in terms of our overall play, as any other part of the season."

Smith, meanwhile, gave short shrift to the suggestions that the entertainment value inherent in the victory over Kilmarnock somehow might make amends for the attritional nature of last week's goalless derby.

"I agree totally with what Gordon Strachan said about that," he snapped. "If we win, we are the best team in the world, if we lose, we are the worst team in the world. A draw and both teams are rotten. That's the way we are in Scotland. There has got to be something to criticise.

As I said before the game, the overall reaction to Old Firm games is slightly ludicrous."