ST MIRREN winger Kyle McAllister has been around the block enough to know that whenever teams outside of Glasgow’s big two suffer a shock defeat at the hands of a lesser opponent, it’s never long before accusations are hurled left and right at ‘underperforming’ Celtic and Rangers players.

Ahead of today’s trip to Ibrox, the 22-year-old is hoping to add another scalp to the Buddies’ collection in a campaign where they have been the only team to defeat Steven Gerrard’s side and where they recorded their first win at Parkhead in over 30 years.

The prospect of becoming the first club to defeat the men from Govan on league duty this season is a big enough carrot to be dangled in front of Jim Goodwin’s players, McAllister admits – even if he feels he and his team-mates wouldn’t get the credit they deserved for an unlikely victory this afternoon.

“I feel like anytime you come up against Rangers or Celtic – even when you get results against them, it’s either ‘Rangers had a bad game’ or ‘Celtic had a bad game’,” he said.

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“When it’s leading up to it, it’s always about how it could be three points for Rangers or Celtic. It’s never about the other team or if they can get a result.

“We’re going into the game as underdogs as usual so we’re just hoping to put in a performance where we can change people’s minds.

“All my life when I’ve played against Rangers and Celtic, you never ever go in nervous. You always hear about nerves before big games or read in the paper how it could be four or five nil against teams like St Mirren.

“We just let that go past us and we get on with it. I feel like it is talked about a lot – where Rangers and Celtic are these top teams that run through teams, but we’ve already shown this season that we can stop both of them.

“Hopefully we can go out there and get a point or three.”