JAK ALNWICK ensured St Mirren didn’t suffer a heavy defeat in the first match of a difficult Old Firm double.

Now the keeper is determined to show that Jim Goodwin’s side can raise their game to compete as they get set to host Celtic this week.

Alnwick pulled off a string of superb stops to deny Rangers on Sunday but was powerless to prevent the Buddies going down 3-0 at Ibrox.

Conor McCarthy’s own goal was a huge setback for the visitors and Alfredo Morelos netted twice in quick succession after the break as the Gers cruised to victory.

Celtic are next on the agenda for the Buddies and Alnwick knows there are tough lessons to be learned after a difficult day at the office.

He said: “We looked at it and you think ‘can we catch them cold if they are not in their full flow?’ But they were unstoppable, it was wave after wave and we couldn’t get up the pitch.

“They caused us a lot of problems. Generally as a goalkeeper coming here you know you are going to be busy. It was down to me to make a few saves and I was hoping I could keep it at 1-0 for as long as possible and then we could maybe nick something.

“But they went up another level and kept pushing forward and got the crucial goals. It was tough for us but I can’t fault our lads.

“We put in a hard shift, as we did in the first game of the season and that is all we can ask for and we will see where that takes us.

“I think we said that first half we were pinned in and the gaffer said we will get one chance. Jon (McLaughlin) makes a good save after the cross. It is one of them, when you face Rangers or Celtic you are just waiting for that one chance to come your way.

“We always knew it was going to be tough but we thought we could cause an upset here. It wasn’t to be.

“We will look at [Celtic] and they are two different types of tests so we will look at ways we can affect the game.

“There are things we can do differently and hopefully we can take something against Celtic. Obviously they are coming to our place so it is a different game.”