McGregor: Pressure Is On Celtic

Photo by Jeff Holmes Rangers defender Darren McGregor claims Celtic have put themselves under pressure by "shouting from the high heavens" ahead of the Old Firm League Cup semi-final next year. A huge cheer came out of the Hoops' dressing room following their 1-0 home win over Inverness on Saturday when the draw was revealed live on television while in-form Parkhead striker John Guidetti said beforehand that whoever faced Ronny Deila's men at Hampden Park were "going down". McGregor, who joined the Govan club from St Mirren in the summer, was happy to see Celtic apparently so confident and believes complacency could be a factor in the Gers' favour when the game takes place in late January or early February. Speaking ahead of the trip to Cowdenbeath in the Championship on Tuesday night, the 29-year-old said: "The pressure is on Celtic. They are the ones shouting from the high heavens about what is going to happen. "We will coast along and do what we need to do. They (Celtic) are obviously looking forward to it. "Two years ago with my old team St Mirren, we showed that on a cup day (beating Celtic 3-2 in League Cup semi-final) you can beat anybody. So complacency can be a killer but we will go there confident and we will be ready for it. "On paper they look like they are the better team, of course they do. "They are stacked full of internationals, they play at a higher level but we are fine with the underdog tag. "There are boys in our dressing room who have been there and done it so their experience will be invaluable. "Kenny (Miller) Lee McCulloch and (Kris) Boyd have all played in Old Firm games so I will be picking their brains closer to the time. "There are big games coming up now, Cowdenbeath is of massive significance for the league campaign." While Guidetti's form for the Premiership champions underpinned his confident semi-final assertion - he has scored nine goals in nine games since arriving on loan from Manchester City - McGregor believes the 22-year-old Swedish striker could be playing for a "bigger and better team'' than Celtic before the semi-final clash takes place. "He is flying high," said the Ibrox defender. "I have seen him and the boys are talking about him. He obviously has a good pedigree with the teams he has been at before and he is on fire at the moment. But the game is in three months' time - are we sure that he will be there? "He might have been snapped up by a bigger and better team, I don't know. It is one of those things. A lot can change. "Kris Commons is a really good player, and Virgil van Dijk - they are littered with international players and boys of a really high calibre so it will be definitely be interesting. "I like to test myself against guys who allegedly have a better pediigree, so I will thrive on that." Rangers manager Ally McCoist, whose side on Monday were drawn to play Kilmarnock at Ibrox in the fourth-round of the Scottish Cup, is trying to keep his side focused on their Championship bid. The Light Blues are seven points behind leaders Hearts with a game in hand, and he said: "I understand better than anybody the excitement and attention caused by the draw on Saturday. "We have arguably got far bigger games to play before then in our quest to get out the division. "I've always said that's the most important thing and that hasn't changed. "I'm not daft enough to think attention won't be greatly on the Celtic game but it is vitally important we put that to one side and concentrate on some really important league games."