KENNY McDOWALL today appealed to his Rangers stars to put the disappointment of their Old Firm defeat swiftly behind them - and concentrate fully on winning promotion.

McDowall was gutted to see his Gers side crash to a 2-0 loss to Celtic in the semi-final of the League Cup at Hampden yesterday.

However, the Ibrox caretaker boss knows his charges can't afford to dwell on the reverse to their age-old Parkhead adversaries.

And he wants his side to repay the Light Blues support for their backing at the National Stadium by securing a place in the SPFL Premiership.

McDowall said: "I'm disappointed in the manner that we lost the goals and with losing one so early. That certainly put a spanner in the works.

"But the second half was much better, although we would have liked to have got a goal to make it a bit interesting.

"When you are two down you either want to have a go or you don't. You've got to try and get back to a cup final and we had a big support there yesterday.

"I told the boys they needed to go out and try and lift it and see where it takes them. So for the second half I have to give them credit. But we're very disappointed to lose the match."

He added: "I'm disappointed for the support more than anything because they are the ones who have been fantastic through the last four years.

"It would have been nice to give them a cup final. But we've got to move on now. The semi-final was an opportunity and we didn't take it so now we need to focus on getting promotion.

"In the second half the players went out and showed they can compete - as we told them they could. They need to take that into the league campaign now and claw the points back on Hearts.

"We have another opportunity in the Scottish Cup against Raith Rovers this weekend. We're looking forward to that.

"Then we've got a big match against Hibs as well. It's important we are ready for these games and we will be."