Rangers not looking for revenge against Celtic - Malky Thomson
Old Firm rivals meet in a must-not-lose clash at the Rangers Training Centre
Rangers are not looking for revenge when they face Celtic in the final Old Firm derby of the season on Sunday, says head coach Malky Thomson.
The Ibrox side have lost both games to Celtic by 1-0 this season, with a late goal settling both fixtures.
The stakes are huge for both sides, with the pair both needing a win to keep their hopes of winning the SWPL 1 title alive, while realistically whoever loses is likely to miss out on Champions League football next season.
“I don’t think it’s about paying anything back,” Thomson told Anyone’s Game. “It’s just about keeping the level of performances we’ve been getting out of the players this season, and if we get the majority of the players playing well at the same time then we’re a good team, we’re a hard team to beat.
“It’s been frustrating [against Celtic] but that’s the bit where the players need to handle out of possession as well as in possession, and being organised and having a shape and a structure that then allows us to win the ball back and play the style of play that we want to.”
Glasgow City lead the title race by four points, and the champions host a Hibernian side who Rangers beat 3-0 on Wednesday in Penicuik.
Rangers boast an impressive clean sheet record, with eight of their last 10 games being shut outs. But the goals they have conceded were to City in their recent 2-0 defeat, and Celtic who go into Sunday’s match one point behind in third place.
Thomson said: “In a crazy way, when we look back at the City game and the Celtic game, we wouldn’t have put ourselves down to lose goals as early; certainly in the City game we lost a goal in a minute and 10 seconds.
“But it’s part of the development, it’s part of the learning in this programme that’s been so strongly backed by the board of directors. It’s just fantastic the one club mentality that we’ve got and it’s becoming second nature now so its really pleasing in that aspect and the girls are feeding off it.”