Michael Beale adopts 'Rangers vs Rangers' mentality for home straight but admits 'harsh' Celtic reality

Michael Beale is adopting the mentality that only Rangers can stop Rangers from making progress for the rest of this season.

Despite dropping just two points since he took charge in December, the Ibrox manager's men still sit nine points off the pace of Celtic, who brushed them aside to retain the League Cup on Sunday. That loss stings but Rangers move forward into Saturday's home Premiership match with Kilmarnock, presented with a chance to narrow the gap to six prior to Celtic's clash away at St Mirren.

They still have the Scottish Cup to compete in as a kings of Scotland pursuit looks in vain amid the champions' own relentless form, Beale is focused on his own task at hand though, and when asked how important it was not to let up in the league, he said: "The key to it is Rangers vs Rangers. We can only take care of ourselves.

"We have been in excellent form but we haven't been able to shorten the gap as Celtic have been in excellent form. All we can take care of is Rangers.

"It would be daft that after one defeat we just threw everything out, we have made progress, we are moving forward and the players look more united. We are playing with more style but we just did not perform on Sunday.

"That is where I see and behind the scenes we are working as hard as ever. We still need to improve, and those things were in place whether we won or lost.

"The game is harsh on players and people. When you win it is the right team, when you lose it is the wrong team, the reality is not one player in a Rangers jersey at the weekend did themselves justice and me as the coach, I pick the team so it's on me."