Rangers' Harry Forrester relishing Old Firm derby debut

HARRY Forrester is looking forward to a 'ferocious' Old Firm debut when Rangers take on Celtic in their William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final clash next month.

Rangers star Harry Forrester. Picture: SNS Group

Mark Warburton’s side will look to increase their 12-point lead over Falkirk at the top of the Ladbrokes Championship against Morton on Friday night.

However, since the cup draw was made on Sunday most of the attention has been on the meeting of the Glasgow giants at Hampden on the weekend of April 16/17.

Forrester, who signed a short-term deal at the turn of the year when joining from Doncaster, has only watched Rangers versus Celtic on television but that has given him an indication of what he can expect.

The 25-year-old English attacker, who has scored in each of his last three Rangers games, including the opener in the 4-0 Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Dundee last Saturday, said: “I’ve seen them on TV but I’ve never been at one.

“They are ferocious aren’t they? You can see what it means to the players and the fans.

“It’s not an ordinary game of football, it means much more than that and obviously being in a semi-final it doesn’t get much bigger.

• READ MORE: Ex-Celtic striker Tony Watt called up to Scotland squad

“I’ve not played in many big derbies to be honest with you.

“It’ll be the biggest derby I’ve ever played in if I get on the pitch. It’s a game you want to be involved in as a footballer.

“You play football to be involved in big games like that. So we’ll be looking forward to that. When that day comes I’m sure we’ll enjoy it.

“It’s a game where a lot is riding on it, not just the result at the end but it’s a big occasion for the fans.

“I’m sure they will be talking to us about the game and what to expect but we’ve got a lot of league games between that and we’ll concentrate on them.

“We’ve got a game on Friday and we will be concentrating on Morton.”

Forrester insists he has not been keeping an eye on Celtic, preferring to focus on the job in hand at Ibrox.

“I’ve not watched them too much to be honest with you,” he said. “We’re busy doing our job and we want to win the league.

“We faced Dundee in the cup at the weekend and put them to bed so it’s just back to the league on Friday.”

SCOTSMAN SPORT ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Keep up to date with all our sport news on The Scotsman’s Sport page on Facebook

Follow @ScotsmanSport for the latest sports news and comment