HIBEES STUN GERS LATE ON
STEVEN GERRARD will gather his walking wounded this morning and demand to know if they’re up for the challenge of Celtic.
Rangers have left themselves with little wriggle room in the title race ahead of Saturday’s Old Firm crunch after Hibs snatched a late goal to draw 1-1 at Ibrox.
Former Light Blues defender Darren Mcgregor equalised a first half strike from Alfredo Morelos to leave Gerrard’s squad facing a crisis of confidence ahead of the visit of the league leaders. Conor Goldson picked up a knee injury and joins Ryan Kent, Scott Arfield, Gareth Mcauley and Ryan Jack on the doubtful list, but Gerrard is ready to call on them to play through the pain barrier.
A victory would haul Rangers joint top of the table with Celtic ahead of the winter shutdown, but defeat could prove fatal to their title chances as it would send the Hoops six points clear with a game in hand.
Gerrard (above) said: “Conor’s a big doubt and there’s a lot of ice flying about the dressing room at the moment.
“I’ve just said to the players, ‘We’ve got two options here. We can feel sorry for ourselves and mope round and sit in silence or we can regroup and pull ourselves together for 90 minutes of football coming up.
“It’s a huge game and I need to know in the next 24 hours who’s in and who’s not.
“There are no definite ‘ins’ at the moment. Some people trained today and were okay. However, there is still more checking to be done on Scott Arfield and Gareth Mcauley. I’ll know more in the morning.
“Sometimes you have to dig deep into the reserves and play through it. If the injury doesn’t let you do that, tell me. Look me in the eye and say, ‘I can’t do it’.”