Rangers midfielder Joe Aribo stressed the need to move on from their disappointment in Dingwall as they prepare to travel to Celtic Park on Wednesday.
Gers were held to a 3-3 draw by Ross County and Celtic’s late win over Dundee United saw the cinch Premiership champions’ lead at the top of the table cut to two points.
Rangers dominated the second half but failed to put the game to bed and gifted their opponents three goals with goalkeeper Allan McGregor, twice, and centre-back Calvin Bassey, particularly culpable.
Giovanni Van Bronckhorst’s side go into the derby in indifferent form after taking five points from their first three league matches of 2022, with their win coming courtesy of a solitary late goal at home to Livingston.
But Aribo’s return from Africa Cup of Nations duty gave Rangers a lift in Dingwall, as did the performance of new loan signing Amad Diallo.
And the Nigeria midfielder is determined to look ahead to Wednesday’s challenge rather than back at Saturday.
“You can never really dwell on performances, good or bad,” he said. “We have to dust ourselves off, get ready and do all we can so that we can put in a good performance on Wednesday.”
Aribo was the stand-out performer but Diallo also made a major impact on his debut.
The Manchester United winger showed his speed and desire to finish off Aribo’s excellent assist for the opener and his shot led to James Tavernier making it 2-2 just after the break.
The 19-year-old went off midway through the second half after receiving treatment but looks set to feature against Celtic, although a 90-minute performance looks beyond him just now following only his second appearance of the season.
Van Bronckhorst said: “You could see his quality. He scored the first goal, he was very good in the space at the back post.
“You can see what he can give to the team. He’s got the talent but we had to take him off because he didn’t have the rhythm like other players have.
“Overall it was a good performance from him but we are disappointed with the draw.”
County scored two goals in four first-half minutes through Jordan White and Regan Charles-Cook before 19-year-old Matthew Wright scrambled a stoppage-time equaliser.
Malky Mackay’s team have now scored seven league goals against Rangers this term and only the top two teams have scored more than their 34 goals in total.
Charles-Cook is the league’s top scorer with 10 goals and Mackay is sure the attacker is set for a strong second half of the campaign, with his contract due to expire in the summer.
“He’s strong in his commitment to what we’re doing,” Mackay said.
“His challenge at the start of the season was to go and kick on after a quiet season last year, but I believe in him.
“I played him in a central area, and early on in the season you could see what he had in his game out wide, but what he didn’t have at that point was drifting into the box to get second balls.
“Since he started doing that, he’s scored 10 goals, so at the moment we are able to score and he’s the top scorer in the league.”
