Boydy backs Gers to mount real challenge

KRIS Boyd last night insisted Rangers could win the league if they work out how to beat Celtic in the Old Firm game.

The Kilmarnock players insisted Steven Gerrard should take a tip from how the other Premiership teams set up against the champions, including his own who beat Brendan

beat Brendan Rodgers’s side at Rugby Park on Sunday. And Boyd was withering in his criticism of the Parkhead men.

He said: “After the Old Firm game, I would have said there was still a massive gap.

“I will still say there’s a massive gap between Rangers and Celtic in terms of if they play each other, as I think Celtic can get themselves up for those games.

“But Rangers have to go out and go toe-to-toe with them. What I said at the beginning of the season was if Rangers can go and win the games of football against the rest of the teams in the league, they will give themselves an opportunity.

“They’re definitely doing that right now. They’re scoring goals, they’re exciting to watch.

“Yeah, I think there is a title challenge on. I don’t want to discard Hearts, they’ll be disappointed after drawing with Livingston. But I’ll stick with what I said at the beginning of the season because anything can happen in an Old Firm game.”

And Boyd insisted the title could be decided in the three remaining derby matches.

He said: “Only Rangers fans will demand that they come out and take Celtic on and go head to head with Celtic. The rest of the clubs know that there is a way to play against Celtic now.

“We’ll sit in, we’ll frustrate them. If you make the pitch as narrow as you possibly can, drop off and let Celtic have the ball, it’s very, very difficult for them to break you down, because they don’t have that big strong physical striker that a lot of successful teams do.

“And Brendan [Rodgers] won’t change it.”