NICKY CLARK insists Rangers will be ready and raring to go for an Old Firm clash with Celtic if the Glasgow rivals are drawn together in the League Cup third round draw.

The Light Blues made sure their name will be in the hat at Hampden with a 5-0 win over Airdrie last night as they continued their stunning start to the season.

Mark Warburton’s side are guaranteed to be drawn against Premiership opposition when the eight ties are set up this afternoon.

Rangers went down 2-0 to Celtic at the National Stadium last term but Clark is confident they could put up a fight against the Hoops if they were to be handed the tie of the round.

He said: “You always want to play against the best teams so if we get a Premiership team then we will look forward to that game when it comes.

“I would welcome it (an Old Firm game). As I say, you want to play in big games and there are not many bigger games than Rangers against Celtic.

“We would look forward to if it comes but there are a lot of games we need to take care of before we get to the next round.

“I think you can see in the performances and the start of the season that we have progressed a lot from last year. If we were to draw Celtic in the cup, I think we would be ready for them.”

Rangers stormed out of the traps at the Excelsior Stadium as Clark, Andy Halliday and Martyn Waghorn netted early on to all but secure their place in the next round.

Clark was on target against Ayr United in the Petrofac Training Cup last midweek and was pleased to make the most of another chance to impress against the Diamonds.

He said: “It was a great start and that’s what we wanted going into the game. We started at a good tempo and it was a great result.

“The most important thing was to get the result and progress in the competition and we’ve done that.

“But as a striker it’s always great to score goals and I’m glad I got another one. It’s great under the new manager.

“You look forward to go into training every day and work hard with the boys and you can see that in the games.

“When you have a good dressing room it goes a long way in football. We’ve certainly got that with the new boys who have fitted in really well.”

It was another impressive performance from Rangers as they made it seven wins from seven games under boss Warburton this term.

The Light Blues handed a debut to Arsenal kid Gedion Zelalem in Lanarkshire as Warburton rotated his strong squad once again.

And Clark is determined to keep rising to the challenge to ensure he can play a key part for the Gers in the coming months.

He said: “It is not easy but you need competition for places at a club like this and we have certainly got that. The manager has brought in some great players, as you can see in each game we are playing. You need competition for places and we have that.

“He (Zelalem) only trained with us yesterday and then played but he looks like a right good talent.

“He is only young but the longer he trains with us and gets to know the boys then he will push on.”