Lee Wallace: It's time for Rangers to stick together and keep believing after Old Firm heartache

The Light Blues return to Premiership action this weekend against Ross County at Ibrox and will be determined to get their title bid back on track.

It has been a poor start to the season for Mark Warburton’s side and Saturday’s 5-1 defeat to Celtic was toughest blow to take so far for the Gers squad.

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Rangers have trips to Pittodrie and Tynecastle coming up in the next few weeks but Wallace is confident Warburton’s squad can rise to the challenge this term.

“Because I believe in the group of players we have and I believe in the manager,” he said.

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“We are not going to let this disappointment and this type of result change that.

“We know that we are still a way off where we need to be. We know that. That has been spoken about after a couple of the early league games.

“We are not kidding ourselves on when we say we still have to get to the levels we got to last year, for instance.

“That has been the biggest disappointment for me. But I believe we will get there. I have got that belief in my manager, the staff and the players.

“While I have got that belief, we need to quickly show it. The places you refer to and the teams you refer to – these are going to be challenging games. We know that.

“We have come up with the gelling of a new group and a turnover of players, so we know these are going to be challenging places. Like this place, of course.

“It was a great spectacle today. The noise, the build-up, everything associated. Of course, there is a real disappointment that we are on the wrong end of it, but we have to quickly learn, move on and be better to be ready for the next challenge.”

It was a day to forget for Warburton and his players as Celtic ran out comfortable winners on Saturday to move four points clear of the Gers at the top of the table.

The visit of County is a chance for Rangers to bounce back before they make their first trip to Pittodrie in four years the following weekend.

And captain Wallace has called for a united front at Ibrox to give the Light Blues the best chance of making their mark in the Premiership.

He said: “We are disappointed, frustrated and hurt. There is heartache in that dressing room. I’m not denying that.

“But while all these things were mentioned in the long chat we had after the match, one thing I said is that now, more than ever, we had to stick together.

“We are obviously going to be in for some criticism this week, but it is about how we deal with it as players – how brave we are.

“We have to learn from it, use it as motivation and move on from it. While we are using all these emotional words about being down, we have to quickly get back to what we do.

“That means coming in Monday and working hard to make sure we get back to winning ways.

“There is gap a now. And we know the gap between the two clubs could be greater if the game in hand is won.

“But it is that early on in the season that we are not going to read too much into it. While we are aware of the gap, there is a lot of football to be played. There is time for us to turn this round and get ourselves back to winning ways.”