MARTYN Waghorn, the Rangers striker, has refuted the suggestion that the Ibrox side are years away from mounting a coherent challenge to Celtic for the Ladbrokes Premiership title. The Ibrox side currently trail their Parkhead counterparts by 33 points, having lost four and drawn one of the five previous Old Firm meetings ahead of today's sixth and final meeting in Govan. There is much discussion already as to whether Rangers will be in a position to stop their rivals from completing a historic ten league titles in a row, but Waghorn feels such talk is wide of the mark.
"At times, we have played very well against them," said Waghorn, who is under contract until the end of next season. "At the start of the season [the 5-1 match at Celtic in September] don’t get me wrong, we were miles off it. But we have shown over the course of the season that we have grown and got better and learned from it. I wouldn’t say we are years off them, no. Hopefully with a new manager, changes in the summer, that is probably going to happen another six months or so down the line. We should be challenging.
"I think we are not too far away," he added. "Listen, we are Rangers, you can’t have years when you aren’t challenging in the top flight. Hopefully we will be in Europe and we need to be competing on all fronts. We need to be there and thereabouts. I have come here to win trophies and I know that is what I want to achieve. It is important that we come back next season after hopefully a good end to this one ready to get back at them."
Having failed, for whatever reason, to land a glove on Celtic during the 2-0 William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final on Sunday, Waghorn feels there is enough character in this Rangers team to become the first team in Scotland to defeat Celtic this season, an achievement which would give him "huge satisfaction". "The biggest hope is that we have got a lot of character in the side," the English striker said. "We are all disappointed and we don’t want to feel that again. It is the last Old Firm of the season so there is a big incentive for the fans. It is important we regroup and have a right good go."
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