We’ll go to Celtic with a lot of confidence, says Waghorn

MARTYN Waghorn feels Rangers are a more dynamic team than the one which slumped to a 5-1 defeat at Celtic Park back in September and can become the first domestic team to win at Parkhead when they visit there this Sunday.

They will almost certainly have a different head coach, with Pedro Caixinha due in Scotland in the next 48 hours to be unveiled as Mark Warburton’s long-term replacement. Whether they have a new director of football to unveil alongside him remains to be seen, however, with discussions still thought to be ongoing with Southampton head of scouting and recruitment Ross Wilson. Caixinha, who has indicated his willingness to assist with the £600,000 fee which is required to secure his services from Qatari side Al-Gharafa, plans to bring his own backroom staff, a move which would facilitate interim head coach Graeme Murty returning to his previous post as Under-20s coach – all subject to approval by the Ibrox side’s plc board.

The backdrop to that September visit were comments from Joey Barton about Scott Brown to the effect that the Celtic captain was “not in his league”. While they backfired spectacularly as a 10-man Rangers side lost heavily, Waghorn feels that back-to-back Ibrox wins against St Johnstone and Hamilton Accies prove that confidence has been building under interim coach Murty and they are capable of upsetting the odds in the East End of Glasgow.

“It’s different now,” said Waghorn, after the 6-0 William Hill Scottish Cup quarter final win against Hamilton which booked the club’s place in the last four for the third time in four seasons. “Joey was Joey and he had things to say, that is what he’s like, but we can’t focus on that too much. He’s moved on and so have we, we’re a different team with different players and we’re a bit more dynamic now.

“We have to believe in ourselves,” Waghorn added. “We are playing some good stuff. We have turned the corner after a difficult few weeks. The result on Wednesday was a huge boost and the performance against Hamilton was something else we can really build on.

“Against Celtic, it’s all about selfbelief. We will go there with a lot of confidence. If anyone can beat them, it’s going to be us. We need to be right on our game, but it’s an Old Firm game and anything can happen, it’s all about who turns up on the day.”

Waghorn appeared as a second-half substitute back in September, but seems certain to start on Sunday. Not only does he have four goals in his last five games, but Joe Garner is suspended and the Geordie striker feels Rangers have some making up to do.

“It [the 5-1 defeat in September] was hugely disappointing,” said Waghorn. “We were caught right off it, we weren’t good enough on the day. We’ve looked at it, we’ve accepted it, it’s hard to take but that’s in the past. I would say we have a different team from then, different players, and the way we’re playing at the minute can only be good for us.

“I just think we are a bit more dynamic, a lot more free-flowing. There were a lot of changes in the summer and we took a bit of time to get going. We are younger, hungrier, and we all have an end goal. We are going to work hard and do what we have to do this week and look forward to the game.”