LEE HODSON hopes he has done enough to retain his Rangers starting spot after making his Old Firm debut on Sunday.

The Northern Irishman was pitched in at right-back by boss Mark Warburton for the Betfred Cup semi-final as James Tavernier was switched to a more advanced role.

Hodson equipped himself well against the Hoops but was left with nothing to show for his efforts as Moussa Dembele netted an 87th minute winner for Brendan Rodgers’ side.

Hodson said: “It was a great experience to play in my first Old Firm game but I would have liked to have been on the other end of it and going through to the final.

“I think I did okay, that’s what I thought personally, but it’s up to the manager to decide whether I play again this week.

“I had to look at this like just another game when I found out I was starting, if you read too much into it things can go personally wrong. I had to concentrate, look at it like another game and try to win.

“I thought we were quite solid down the right, we stopped Tierney getting forward as much as he usually does with Tav keeping him back.

“It was one of those games where we were defending quite a lot but we caught them on the counter attack and created a lot of chances but we didn’t get the quality in the final third to finish it.”

Rangers don’t have time to dwell on derby defeat as they look to continue their progress up the Premiership standings in the coming days.

Warburton’s side have beaten Partick Thistle and Inverness in their last two league outings and Hodson is determined to end the week on a high note.

“We have to take the positives out of the game and we have a big week ahead of us with St Johnstone on Wednesday night and then Kilmarnock on Saturday,” he told RangersTV. “We have to concentrate on those two games and try to get six points.

“There are a lot of positives from that game today though and we need to take them into Wednesday night.”