Lee insists under-achievers are up for it

RANGERS captain Lee Wallace insists his team-mates won’t meekly be put to the sword by Celtic this afternoon.

The defender is desperate to wipe out the painful memory of that 5-1 thrashing suffered by the Light Blues at the start of the season. A lot has happened since then. It was the match that sparked the departure of Joey Barton, and he has now been followed by manager Mark Warburton and his assistant, David Weir.

Celtic, meanwhile, have gone from strength to strength, boast an unbeaten domestic record and are 33 points ahead of the greatest rivals.

Wallace said: “The defeat hurt. It was one of the low points for guys who’ve experienced this fixture before.

“It wasn’t about any gap at that point. It was the fact we’d lost the

fixture in that manner which was unacceptable, and it was a hurting dressing-room.

“They’ve individuals that can hurt us – they’ve done that already and done it in every single game they’ve played in this season. We respect that.

“But we can’t just sit there, accept it and applaud it.

“We’ve got a plan, we will go there and we will try and win the game.”

Wallace maintains he isn’t feeling extra pressure because Brendan Rodgers’ side could move by 36 points ahead of Rangers by 2pm.

Any gap is too big for the 29-year-old to accept.

He went on: “It won’t get to me any more than how I feel about the gap that already exists.

“I think if it is 36 points, 33, 39, 23 or whatever, it has not been acceptable from us.

“We’ve been really disappointed. It’s been there and growing for a number of months.

“We did maintain at the start of the season that we wanted to be as competitive as possible, and it’s not proven to be case.

“Of course, if it gets worse, then it gets worse. But right now, it’s a disappointment where it is.

“We’ve got them two more times in the league, plus the Scottish Cup semi-final, and we want to stop them doing the clean sweep on us.

“If we do that, we’ll generate a bit of belief and confidence from our own point of view, and hopefully finish the season really strongly.”

Wallace still believes in the current Rangers squad. He hopes some of the younger players can emerge stronger from their recent struggles.

He said: “The world gets the impression that we are in turmoil, and a bit disillusioned with what’s going on. But that’s never been the case.

“The new manager is inheriting a squad that under-achieved and under-performed for Mark Warburton and Davie Weir up until the point they left.

“But he’s also coming into a very good squad, a talented, young squad that is evolving.

“There has been 45 minutes here, 15 minutes there, but we’ve not shown anywhere near the consistency we should have with this group.

“I won’t be able to sit back and smile until we’re back winning titles and in the Champions League.

“Until that point, we’re still fighting to get the club back to where it belongs.”