GRAME MURTY has told his Rangers players that Sunday's derby is the time and place for them to "make a statement" in terms of their careers.
Joe Garner is suspended so there will be at least one tweak to the team which beat Hamilton at the weekend, and perhaps two if defender Rob Kiernan loses his red card appeal on Thursday.
But whoever starts at Celtic Park, or subsequently comes on, they will be judged in terms of how they handle what is going to be one of the most testing occasions they will ever face.
Regardless of the result, there will be quite a few in the Rangers dressing room who are close to their last chance with the supporters. They want to see their team turn up. It's not a huge amount to ask.
Garner has scored seven goals this season, one of which was against Celtic back in September and while he hasn't set the heather on first, his style of play would have suited this match.
Speaking to RangersTV, Murty said: “It’s a shame for him that he is going to miss out on an experience, it’s a shame for the squad that you take those goals out of the game.
“But I’m always been a firm believer that it’s a massive opportunity for someone to go and impress, and you couldn’t pick a bigger game.
"What game do you come to Rangers to play in? You come to play in this game, so someone is going to get the opportunity to go and play against our biggest rivals, at their ground and put a shift in for the team and make a statement for his career and for the club. If I’m brutally honest, if I’m a player I’m thankful for that opportunity.”
At least Rangers got into this match on the back of two wins, which Murty needed almost as much as his team did.
"Well if I can’t enjoy that, if I can’t put a smile on my face after that, then I don’t think I ever will," admitted the interim manager. "I enjoyed the fact that the boys got a bit of credit and they got a bit of a release.
“I said to them that we need to start taking chances and be clinical and we were pleased we got so many goals, but I’m really pleased that we got a clean sheet.
“Wes Forderingham has been outstanding in my opinion in some of the games, and he hasn’t deserved some of the results that we’ve had and it’s nice for him to get a clean sheet. But I thought the ways the players showed a lot of resilience, particularly when they were down to ten men, it showed that they have got it in them.”
Rangers and Celtic will be the best of friends by the time this season ends. After Sunday, they face each other at Hampden on April 23 in the Willian Hill Scottish Cup semi-final. There will be, of course, one more match at Ibrox after the split.
“We knew whatever team we were going to face, it was going to be a difficult draw," said captain Lee Wallace. "We’re excited about it, and we are looking forward to getting back to Hampden. We know last time we were there in the Scottish Cup it was a disappointment, but we got to the final having beaten Celtic in the semi-final previously.
“It’s a good challenge for us that we can look forward to. We’ll get a taste of it this weekend, and we want to try and go into these games and make sure we win them and try and attempt to win the silverware that these fans expect.”
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