McKay: We can stop a whitewash

BARRIE McKAY believes Rangers can avoid suffering an Old Firm whitewash this season — claiming they missed chances to give Celtic ‘a doing’ on Hogmanay. The runaway Premiership leaders made it three derby triumphs out of three by coming from behind to win 2-1 at Ibrox. Rangers lost all four Old Firm league meetings — as well as a Scottish Cup clash — in season 2003-04 and could now be on course for a similar fate this term. Celtic dominated much of the second half on Saturday, attacking in waves before Scott Sinclair netted the 70th-minute winner. McKay, though, feels the flow of the game could have changed had Mark Warburton’s men been more

ruthless at key moments after Kenny Miller’s opener. And with two league derbies still to come, the winger insists no one at Rangers wants to suffer a clean sweep of defeats. ‘No, definitely not,’ said McKay. ‘The fans turn in up numbers and go to away games in numbers. They want to see us beat them (Celtic), so it up to us as players to deliver that. ‘We have got a great squad and a lot of great talents in the team. I think we proved that we can match them and, if we had taken our chances, it could have been a different game.’ Celtic enter the winter break with a 19-point lead over Rangers and still unbeaten in domestic competition. But McKay takes heart from his side’s weekend display, particularly in the first half. Asked about the gulf in quality between the teams, he said: ‘I don’t think it is as big as people make out. I think, if we took our chances, we could have given them a doing. ‘They took their chances in the last (league) game and obviously scored five. If we had taken our chances and kept them at bay, I think we could have done the same to them. ‘We just need to keep going. I think on another day we would have taken these chances and we would have won the game. That would have closed the points gap. We just need to keep going and playing the way we are playing.’ Rangers striker Miller agrees with McKay that the Ibrox mean can avoid a whitewash, adding: ‘Of course we can beat them, there’s no doubt about it. ‘They are on an incredible run of 20 games with one draw. It’s incredible at any level, so it’s up to us to beat them. ‘We had a real opportunity to do that on Saturday, I felt. Particularly when we went 1-0 up in the first half of the game. We probably felt as comfy as you can in an Old Firm game. ‘It was disappointing to lose the goal in the way we did.’ Meanwhile, the club have been left sweating over the fitness of striker Joe Garner, with a specialist verdict on the shoulder injury he picked up on Saturday due later today. The extent of the damage, caused in a collision with Celtic centre-half Erik Sviatchenko, will not become clear until a specialist can examine the £1.8 million summer signing. Ibrox boss Warburton is desperate to have Garner fit by the end of the winter shutdown, with a tricky Scottish Cup fourth-round tie at home to Motherwell now less than three weeks away, before facing the Steelmen in the league again a week later.