JIMMY Nicholl, the Rangers interim manager, last night backed his players to restore pride in the Ibrox club and finish second in the Ladbrokes Premiership despite Graham Dorrans, Ross McCrorie and Alfredo Morelos all being ruled out of their final game.
Nicholl was furious referee Steven McLean gave a penalty against his side in the first-half of their league meeting with Aberdeen at Pittodrie last night after Kenny McLean went to ground after a challenge by Alfredo Morelos.
But the Northern Irishman was pleased with how his side fought back and earned a draw thanks to a Ross McCrorie header and believes they can finish runners-up in the top flight and secure a European spot if they show the same spirit this weekend.
Dorrans, who limped off with ligament damage in the first half, and McCrorie and Morelos, who were both yellow carded, will miss the game against Hibernian at Easter Road in Sunday.
However, Nicholl believes the other members of his squad can finish a difficult 2017/18 campaign on a high if they reproduce their second-half performance.
"It wasn’t a penalty," he said. "If there’s no doubt I’d be standing there saying: ‘What are you doing Alfredo? For goodness sake! You’ve cost us the game! I’d understand if it was a blatant, stupid thing to do in the box. But it wasn’t obvious.
"It isn’t August with three games gone. It is the end of the season with two games to go and those were three points I thought we deserved and never got.
“The players got frustrated with the decision and lost their way. That was the annoying thing. We had to get them in at half-time and get the football head back on again. They did that. Character and desire are the words. That is what you are looking for in players all the time.
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“You can’t defend the two Celtic games. You can’t defend that. But that’s gone and all we’re trying to do is restore a bit of pride. That’s all they can do. Restore a bit of pride, win a game of football, win on Sunday and hopefully finish second and get into Europe."
Derek McInnes, the Aberdeen manager, knows his side have to produce one of their best displays of the season against Scottish champions Celtic at Parkhead if they are to finish runners-up for the fourth season in a row.
“We've not managed to take anything off Celtic this season and we're going to have to bring a level of performance that allows us to have a fighting chance of second," he said. “We're ahead of the other two and they still have their points to earn. We'll take the point tonight because it might just be a very important point."
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