Danny Rohl says Rangers will keep 7,500 Celtic fans 'quiet' at Ibrox

Danny Rohl says Rangers can keep thousands of Celtic fans quiet if his side repeat last weekend’s first-half display against the Hoops.

Around 7,500 Celtic fans will be at Ibrox to watch their side take on Rangers in the Scottish Cup on Sunday.

Last week, Rohl’s side had established a commanding two-goal lead against their city rivals after a double from Youssef Chermiti had put his team in pole position.

However, Martin O’Neill’s side staged a second-half comeback to draw 2-2 with goals from Kieran Tierney and Reo Hatate.

The Old Firm meet again on Sunday for a place in the Scottish Cup semi-finals, with Ibrox set to host the largest away support since 2018.

While Rohl admits the Celtic fans will have an “impact”, he believes that if his side replicates last week’s first half then the 7,500 travelling fans will be “quiet”.

“Of course it will have an impact”, he said.

“If we play 50 minutes like we did then the 7,500 will also be quiet. I think this is the part in the game where you feel it. We can influence, we can make the impact on our performance on the pitch.

“The atmosphere was incredible. 50 minutes, really incredible. It was amazing to feel this. We pushed our players forward, forward. Then it comes to 2-1 and you feel it in the stadium as well. But this is also part of the game.

“Maybe we can do it together, that we come through these small minutes where you feel the opponent comes in better into the game. But this 50 minutes was really, really outstanding. I really enjoyed this, to be in the touchline in such a game.

“We’ve spoken about good things and what we need to improve. We go with belief and trust. For 50 minutes, I don’t know the last time Rangers dominated Celtic like this.”

Rangers conceded the equaliser against Celtic in the 89th minute. They also conceded an 89th-minute goal to Motherwell last month, and found themselves having to claw back a two-goal deficit against Livingston.

Rohl has admitted that his defence is “conceding too much” at the moment.

“Yes, this is the job as a manager. I think you always have to sort out all the problems.

“This is the best case. We look back to the conceded goals. I think we conceded too much at the moment. I think we conceded 16 all-in-all in the league since I’ve been here. And in the last five games, eight.

“This is too much and this is also part of what we have to improve. Then you look back against Livingston. The opponent has three touches in our box and two goals. When we look back to the situation where it comes to the pen on the weekend, we have an eight-against-four in our box, we have an overload.

“But we were not in the right position and this is what we have to do better. We worked on this and we will do. This is the part when you scored, I think, in five games, 14 goals. This is nearly average of three. It should be enough to win all the games.”

Rohl confirmed he has a full squad to choose from this weekend.

Although Mikey Moore has some “small issues”, he is not expected to miss the game, and there is a return for Connor Barron.

Rangers take on Celtic at Ibrox at 1pm on Sunday.