MATT Gilks has his own reasons to hope Rangers are handed a re-match with Celtic in the BetFred Cup semi-finals.
With Wes Foderingham having locked down the starting spot in goal for the Ibrox side's league matches to date, the Scotland international knows it may be his best chance of experiencing an Old Firm derby. The Ibrox side may be a bit tender following their 5-1 rout at Celtic Park last month but Gilks for one would love tonight's draw to throw another Glasgow derby into the mix.
"You want to play every game but when I am given the cup games that is what I want to do," said Gilks. "So obviously the bigger the better. Hopefully [Rangers get Celtic in the next round], but we'll see. That might be a good final.
"It is nice to get out there on the pitch, play at Ibrox and get a great result and a clean sheet," he added. "But I think this is it for me just now, I'm playing the cup games at the minute. With the semi-final coming up, I will expect to play that, and obviously the final, while Wes is doing well in the league. The manager has said to me that is how it is going to be at the minute and I am happy to go along with anything he says."
Regardless of his clean sheet against Queen of the South on Tuesday night - the one-time Scotland goalkeeper marshalled his back four well but was rarely tested - Gilks is likely to be back on the bench on Sunday afternoon as Rangers face their first visit to Pittodrie since October 2011. It is a fixture which has a famous history of its own and the goalkeeper's card has been marked. "Obviously I got told about the Rangers v Celtic one when I signed but I got a mention about this one as well," said Gilks. "I have played in the Preston v Blackpool derby too and it is good for the game. It adds a little bit of spice to it. I hope the fans go there in full voice."
The trip to Aberdeen is the start of a fraught period for Mark Warburton's side - with further tricky away matches to be navigated against Inverness and Hearts. Gilks feels the players who were omitted at the start of the season laid a marker down against the Ladbrokes Championship leaders, and there is a sense of calm around the dressing room even despite the lurid headlines created by the Joey Barton affair. "To be honest, we block it out," said Gilks. "That is for you guys to summarise and say what you want about it. The gaffer told us what is going and that is it, we move on.
"We have not really had a downer to be honest, we have kept on day by day, doing session by session," he added. "That is what the manager wants, he is on us every day to keep those high standards and the result against Queens speaks for itself. But we have got a squad of players there who are more than capable of coming into the team and doing a job. If the gaffer needs to change it, I am sure he will."
For all the attacking panache this Rangers team like to display - monopolising the ball and allowing their two full backs to bomb on - a second clean sheet in successive games will have pleased the Rangers backroom staff as much as anything.
"It is momentum," said Gilks. "A clean sheet on Saturday, a clean sheet tonight, so hopefully we can get another clean sheet on Sunday. Clean sheets builds confidence in the goalkeeper, the back four and defensive midfielders. If we are keeping clean sheets then we know we will have opportunities at the other end so hopefully we can put a few away in the league as well now.
"There is always room for improvement," he added. "But obviously a clean sheet is good to get, Waggy [Martyn Waghorn] got a hat-trick and it was a good performance from everyone. There were lots of positives. Like Saturday as well - there were plenty of positives when we looked through the game. Some of the play we did was probably lost by people because of the result. But we were positive, we moved on, and we took our chances tonight."
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