McInnes says Rangers fans will be crucial to chances of victory in Old Firm clash | OneFootball

Rangers manager Derek McInnes sees Sunday’s Old Firm as a chance to take a step towards winning trophies. The Scottish League Cup quarter-final clash with Celtic comes at a good moment for McInnes’s side. Rangers have four wins in a row and are rebuilding confidence following their failings in European qualification. McInnes hopes to have the crowd behind his players in their Ibrox knockout tie. “We want to make sure we give ourselves a chance to be relevant domestically again in terms of winning trophies, and Sunday gives us a chance to take a step towards that,” said McInnes. “You’re not going to play Celtic and dominate the game for 90 minutes. We’ll have spells and they’ll have spells. It’s important that we tap into having 50,000 behind us, and that they make it as tough as possible for Celtic.“If we can give the crowd something to get behind, I think the strength of our club can be shown.”

Rangers captain Lawrence Shankland has suffered a hamstring tear and will be out until the new year. Striker Bojan Miovski has stepped up in his absence, scoring a 91st minute winner against St Mirren. “It was a brilliant ending to the game,” said McInnes.“I thought St Mirren were the better team for the last part of the second half and we were struggling to get any real momentum to create chances in that period. Bojan came up with a big moment for us and a lovely finish that turned one point into three. “He’s feeling good about himself. I think we’re fortunate to have someone of his prowess and experience.” McInnes has suffered early season scrutiny, and now faces a double-header against his city rivals, with Rangers travelling to Celtic Park next weekend for the clubs’ first league clash of the season. “There are always pressure games. I still think it’s really early on in a season to be making any rash judgments on any team, good or bad. I think we’re slowly making progress, and I think we’ve got a performance in us that can win the game. “If we can win, that will help us for the league fixture the following week.” Celtic pose a great attacking threat through Colombian forward Camilo Durán and other summer signings. “We have to recognise some individual Celtic players and negate their opportunities. Good players will always find some sort of influence, but it’s about trying to make sure they don’t have as big an influence as they would like.“For us, it’s important that we take a lot of the good from recent performances. We have to be ruthless and more instinctive with some of our attacking play.”