Martyn Waghorn has warned Celtic will be going all out to win the Premiership – and halt the Bhoys’ bandwagon for six titles on the bounce.

Waghorn bagged his first goal of the season as Rangers beat Motherwell 2-0 in Saturday’s opening League Cup group match.

Despite this being their first season back at top-flight level for four years, Waghorn is adamant that anything less than the title would be viewed as a failure by the Rangers dressing room. 

He said: “We are Rangers. We have to challenge for the title.We don’t have the mindset that we can settle for second or third. We know what we have do and we’re going to challenge all the way.

Read more: Tavernier: Me and pal Waghorn love it at Rangers, we're going nowhere

“The quality we’ve got coming off the bench and the strength in depth that has been added to the squad is different class.That’s going to raise our game. It keeps everybody on their toes and we’ve got really healthy competition now and that’s crucial in a good, competitive and successful squad.

“We definitely don’t have the mind-set that we can settle for second or third, we’re Rangers and we’ve got to challenge. We know what we have to do and we’re going to challenge all the way.

“First is the only thing acceptable for Rangers, it has to be doesn’t it?”

Waghorn believes that the flying start Rangers made to their season with the win at Fir Park will give them the platform to go on and become even stronger as they approach their first league game.

Read more: Tavernier: Me and pal Waghorn love it at Rangers, we're going nowhere

He says that the way the light blues appeared to gain the upper hand the longer the match went on was testament to the hard work the squad have been putting in during pre-season.

“It was a very good start to the campaign,” he said. “I think for the first 10-15 minutes the boys were a bit sloppy, but as the game went on we got into it, and it’s a good solid start to the season for us.

“The result gives us confidence. It took us a while to get going but then we took control and by the last 10-15 minutes we could have had another two or three goals.

“In hindsight, we really need to be finishing off more chances or it might come back and bite us one day, but considering it was our second pre-season game we were pleased with our performance and at the end of the day we got the win, which was the most important thing.

“We had a good week at Murray Park before we went to America, and tested ourselves in the humidity and worked very, very hard.

“We’ve come back in great nick and considering we were just going into our second game we showed that we were fit, strong and powerful all the way to the 93rd minute. It’s a very pleasing start.”

The contract situation of both of Saturday’s goalscorers – Waghorn and James Tavernier – has come under the spotlight recently after the pair rejected extensions to their current deals.

Last season’s top scorer was keen to downplay the significance of that development though, and he insisted that he was fully committed to Rangers.

Read more: Tavernier: Me and pal Waghorn love it at Rangers, we're going nowhere

“We’re just concentrating on our football,” said Waghorn. “It’s part and parcel of the job and talks like that go on day-to-day at the club, I leave that between the club and my agent and it’s up to them to deal with that.

“All I can say is that I’m very happy here and I’m very settled here. I’ve got a lot to build on from last season and I’m fully focused and committed to Rangers.

“I’m going to do my bit and hopefully the other side will get done, but it’s out of my hands really. I’m very happy here.”