Old Firm managers look ahead to crunch match

Celtic manager Neil Lennon is looking for his side to make amends for their Ibrox defeat earlier in the season in Wednesday night’s Old Firm derby, while his Rangers counterpart Ally McCoist insists his players are ready after their loss to St Mirren.

Rangers won the first match of the season against their bitter rivals 4-2 in September but Lennon is hoping his side can go top of the Scottish Premier League after reducing the champions’ lead to just one point.

“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,” Lennon said.

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

“I don’t know [how Rangers will approach the game].

“[Rangers manager] Ally [McCoist] has tried a couple of different formations. He has played three up or one up. But, whatever formation we face on Wednesday, they are the champions and have had a good mentality over the last three or four years.

“But we are in a good place and I want us to go out and stamp our authority on the game if we can.”

The Northern Irishman accepts Celtic are in the ascendancy going into the game which could see them go top of the table going into 2012.

“Yes, we have won eight in a row and the form is good,” he said. “But we will have to play well, we will have to play strongly and have to play the occasion as best we can.

“We want to continue the winning form and if it means having to beat Rangers then so be it.”

Meanwhile, McCoist believes his players are ready for the challenge, despite losing 2-1 to St Mirren yesterday.

He said: “I can assure you we will be ready for the game, I can guarantee you that.

“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.”

Although disappointed by the two red cards, McCoist believes he has enough options to fill the gap.

He added: “I won’t lie to you, it’s not ideal. But 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.”

Rangers could also be without Lee McCulloch and Dorin Goian on Wednesday night, after both players were shown red cards against Saints.

However, McCoist is likely to appeal McCulloch’s dismissal for violent conduct and, with an appeal hearing unlikely to take place before Thursday, the midfielder could still feature in the derby.

When it was put to McCoist that the momentum is now with Celtic, he said: “The truth of the matter is I would rather be a point ahead than a point behind. Of that there is no doubt.

“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.”