Darren McGregor taking stock of Old Firm hype

DARREN McGregor insists he will banish thoughts of the Old Firm and be thrilled not to hear the roar of stock car engines as Rangers seek to close the gap on Hearts when they head to Cowdenbeath tonight.

Rangers Darren McGregor says any thoughts about the Old Firm clash must be put aside. Picture: SNS

McGregor knows that many are obsessed with the League Cup semi-final meeting with Celtic at the end of January and he admits his mind has been racing.

However, he knows Rangers have to be completely concentrated at a venue which was home on two separate occasions in his early days as a player.

He said: “The Old Firm game will be a distraction, there’s no doubt that it’ll be in the back of your mind.

“It’s just having to suppress that for the next couple of months. Then with a couple of weeks to go the hype and excitement will start building.

“I can talk now about how excited I am but there are loads of variables which can change.

“It’s still three months away so that’s maybe why we’re not getting ahead of ourselves. There’s still a lot to play for and circumstances can change.

“It’s just a massive game, one of Britain’s biggest, intense and most watched derbies.”

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He added: “You can’t let that swirl around in your head for too long. You just need to deal with each week as it comes, then the week leading up to it you prepare accordingly.

“It’s going away to Cowdenbeath on a Tuesday night, when it’s cold and raining, when they’re wanting to sit in and frustrate – then you learn the character in the dressing room.

“We’re well aware of that. We know if we turn up and apply ourselves we’ll win but if we’re complacent that is when problems can happen.”

McGregor has warned his team-mates about the tight playing surface at Central Park, which regularly attracts many more spectators for stock car racing that it does for football.

He said: “I told the boys the one benefit we’ll have is that we won’t be getting chased off for the stock cars coming on afterwards, because it’s a Tuesday night.

“With five minutes to go you could hear them revving the cars. There’s a big concrete car park outside so you could hear them all fine-tuning.

“You had 300 people watching the football then you’d have 3,000 coming to watch the stock cars. I always wished that would reverse but it never did.

“It’s such a small pitch that if Cowden want to, they can sit in and make it very difficult for us to penetrate them.”

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