RANGERS may have lost the first Old Firm game of the season 5-1 but, for me, it is not about gaining revenge for that result on Sunday.

There is a place in the Betfred Cup final at stake and that, and the chance to beat your biggest rivals, should be all the motivation that Mark Warburton’s side need.

Mark said he didn’t want to experience the feelings he had after the Parkhead game again and the players won’t want to either. They let themselves down badly in the league game and now they know what Celtic are all about and what the atmosphere is all about.

There are no excuses this time. They will have had their eyes opened and they know how big the game is. They have already beaten Celtic in a semi-final but this is a different proposition.

You can’t do anything about the last derby fixture now. You have to forget it and move on.

This is another big game and a chance to get into a final. These players are at Rangers to win medals and this is a chance to get one step closer to that.

It just so happens it is against the team that beat them heavily a few weeks ago.

We will find out if the players have their fire in their belly on Sunday and I think the manager will learn a lot about his squad at Hampden.

Rangers have to prove that they have learned from their mistakes. The Celtic game was a harsh lesson for them but hopefully they are better for it.

When I played in my first Old Firm game in 1970, I didn’t know what to expect. I had watched a few games but until you are on the pitch and you listen to the noise, it is very difficult to tell people, or for people to tell you, what it is like.

Rangers hadn’t won anything for a couple of years and everyone had gone for a Celtic victory. We played well on the day and Celtic had a lot of the ball without creating anything.

We created two or three and fortunately for me when Willie Johnston put the ball in I nodded it into the net.

I found myself at times, when the ball was up the other end of the park, just looking around and trying to take in the atmosphere. You can’t afford to do that nowadays.

For the 90 minutes, your concentration has to be on the game and not on the terraces. You don’t hear any noises, you don’t hear any singing because you are focused on the game and you are trying to get the better of your man.

Maybe the Rangers players got caught up in the game at Parkhead. My preparations for the second game were better and I knew what to expect so I wasn’t as overawed by it.

I do think you get used to it. Everyone gets nervous and you expect that because they are massive games.

I think the players that played in the 5-1 game, they would have known it would have been a hard game and there would have been a great atmosphere, but they will say it was one of the best games they have ever been involved in.

Not in terms of the result and the performance, but just everything around it with the atmosphere, the intensity, the passion.

The manager clearly took the result to heart and I hope the players were the same. They don’t want to have that feeling again.

They were humiliated at Parkhead and they have to put that right at Hampden. I think you will see a better performance.

There won’t be four goals in it this time and Rangers have got a good chance if they play the way that they can.

If you are a Rangers player now, you shouldn’t need someone to inspire you. That should be inside you already.

Now is the time where you have to make it count. You have got to perform on the park.

And the players will know fine well that if they don’t then the fans can quickly get on their backs and things can turn.

Everyone can have a bad game, but if you are giving your all and fighting for the jersey then the supporters will back you.

I think we would all admit that Celtic have got the better players but that doesn’t mean that they will win the game.

It is about your attitude, about making the correct decisions, about handling the pressure. Rangers have the players to hurt Celtic, but they have got to play on the day.

We need eight or nine players to be on their game if they are win on Sunday.

It is a chance for Rangers to go some way to making amends for what happened at Parkhead a couple of weeks ago.

Now they have to make the most of the opportunity and move one step closer to getting their hands on the first silverware of the season.