Goal made Clint’s day as a draw guarantees magnumforceforPed
CLINT HILL hopes new Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha was i mpressed with their Parkhead performance as the Light Blues earned an Old Firm draw.
The Portuguese coach watched on from the stands as Graeme Murty’s side came from behind to secure a well-earned share of the spoils on derby day.
Defender Hill was the Gers hero as he cancelled out Stuart Armstrong’s opener to ensure Murty bowed out as interim boss on a positive note.
And the 38-year-old reckons Caixinha would have been pleased with what he witnessed just hours after he signed on the dotted line at Ibrox.
Hill said: “It’s not always going to be pretty football. You have to dig in and make challenges. You have to sacrifice your own personal gain for the team and I think everyone to a man has done that today.
“I don’t know what the new manager would have made of it. Hopefully he will have taken a lot of positives from it.
“I’ve never spoken to him or seen him before so we are all very anxious to meet him and get going straight away.
“Hopefully in the next 48 hours we’ll get to meet him as a team and will hit the ground running with what he wants from us.
“I think he’s got plenty to work with. I think we created some decent opportunities but unfortunately couldn’t take them.
“We’ve managed to get a point at a very difficult place against a good team, so hopefully there are a lot of positives for him to take.
“There’s no point in coming here and getting a point and then losing at home.
“We’ll enjoy the next few hours but then we’ve got to concentrate on the next game and we know we’ve got to get three points.
“Hopefully we can close the gap and get to second. For that to happen we’ll need to win more than we lose.”
THE appointment of Caixinha brings an end to Murty’s tenure after he stepped in to replace Mark Warburton last month.
The Gers were written off in many quarters ahead of the fourth derby of the season and came under fire from former Hoops stars Frank McAvennie and Andy Walker. But Hill reckons his side were worthy of their point as attentions turn to a new era under Caixinha.
He said: “Credit has got to go to Murts and his team. Maybe for two games out of the past five or six we have been poor but I think in general we have responded well to what he has wanted from us.
“He gave us a structure and a platform and put belief and confidence back in us. We are very proud of him as well.
“He has come in and done a great job for the club.
He can hold his head up high. Everyone has got a lot to say haven’t they? A lot of people have had a lot to say. I am not going to go into that.
“I try to ignore it as much as possible and talk about Rangers as a football club. We have made a positive step getting a decent result.
“It is not three points but it is a positive point for us. We have got to go again now on Saturday.
“We have got a new manager coming in. We have got to raise our standards again if we want to close the gap in the years to come.” be scoring these ones. But that’s football. There is no point dwelling on those moments.
“We move on to the next match and try to keep building momentum for the new manager.”
Waghorn played down suggestions that the Ibrox squad had been extra motivated for the Parkhead showdown by the flak from media puindits and former Celtic players.
Frank McAvennie and Andy Walker had warned in the build-up to the match that an in-form Celtic could dish out a thrashing.
Waghorn added: “We didn’t pay it a lot of attention.
“We have been questioned a lot this season but the boys prefer to do their talking on the pitch.
“It was important to put down a marker for the new manager.”