GRAEME MURTY reckons the roar inside the home dressing room that greeted the Scottish Cup draw is a sign that Rangers can finish with a flourish this season.

The Light Blues were handed a semi-final showdown with Celtic after they beat Falkirk 4-1 at Ibrox on Sunday.

Rangers could move to within three points of their Old Firm rivals in the Premiership this weekend and boss Murty knows his players are relishing the big clashes at the business end of the campaign.

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He said: “We’ve a big game before the semi. The sound that came out of the changing-room when we were drawn against Celtic was vast.

“The boys loved it. And that shows the mood they’re in, the positivity that’s going through the changing-room and the upturn in our mindset that we’re relishing the challenge of pushing on and being better than we were.

“That’s a good sign for me and we need to make sure the games we have coming up between now and the end of the season remain meaningful.

“We don’t want to taper off and die, we want to accelerate to the end of the season, have a really good run.”

Parkhead boss Brendan Rodgers has claimed that all the pressure is on Rangers ahead of the third Old Firm fixture of the campaign.

And Murty is confident his players can rise to the occasion as they look to spark a Premiership title challenge this term.

He said: “I heard about Brendan Rodgers’ comments. I think we’re always under pressure to perform at Ibrox, we have a very demanding clientele, our fans are used to players of the highest standard playing at the highest level, and we’re striving to get back to a level that’s worthy of that.

“We’re not there yet but the next week will be a very measure of where we are on our journey and that’s what I’m going to take it as.

“I’ve only been there for two of them so I’m fully aware of the threat they pose.

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“The mindset going into the ones at Parkhead were that we had to contain them at times but not be afraid to play our football at times.

“I think it’s going to be the same for us here, albeit we might be a bit more aggressive in our selection or the way we’re going to play.

“But I think you have to be respectful towards their difference-makers and their skill players. But you have to try and contain those guys and then not be afraid to unleash the guys that pose a threat for us.

“We had numerous opportunities to score through different means, that’s given us a real good base to go forward from. The number of chances we create is good for us albeit we will have to be better next weekend.”