John Lundstram pleads for extended Rangers stay amid contract silence as Celtic told rivals are hunting 'statement' win

John Lundstram insists Rangers are capable of making a statement against Celtic and keeping their hopes of silverware alive at Hampden later this month.

But the midfielder accepts his team mates will have to cut out the sloppy goals that cost them against the Hoops last week - and almost came back to bite again against St Mirren yesterday. Michael Beale’s men face a tussle with Aberdeen at Pittodrie next Sunday before all attention turns to the Hampden showdown with the Hoops.

Beale will be hoping to have key men including Connor Goldson, Ryan Kent, Antonio Colak and Ryan Jack back from injury as they look to down Celtic for the first time this season. And Lundstram said: "We all want to win in the Old Firm, of course we do. That's our biggest rival. To get a win against them would be great. We are building and progressing. I thought we were a lot better in the last Old Firm than we were in the one before. So hopefully we can get that big statement performance that can really give us confidence then to go on."

Rangers twice threw away a lead against St Mirren before running out 5-2 winners today. But four careless goals conceded in the space of seven days has infuriated Beale.

And Lundstram said: "It's the standards that the club demands so it's so frustrating to concede two sloppy goals. For the first one we didn't quite get up to people to stop the cross.

“And then he's taken a touch and he's managed to finish it well to be fair to the boy. It comes from us losing the ball at the other end and we need to capitalise better.

“We get into good positions sometimes but, as I said to the lads at half-time, our final pass at times has to be better. The second one was a set play. That's their game with the massive height. They