Weiss targets Old Firm start

(GETTY IMAGES)

Vladimir Weiss is determined to maintain his impressive form in a bid to convince boss Walter Smith to give him a crack at Celtic.

The on-loan Manchester City winger produced a man-of-the-match display - and grabbed a goal - as Rangers romped to a 4-1 win at Motherwell on Boxing Day.

Next up for the Scottish champions is the Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash against St Johnstone on Wednesday night and Weiss knows he needs to be on top form again at McDiarmid Park to remain in the manager's plans ahead of the Old Firm derby on January 2.

The Slovakia international was a late substitute when Rangers defeated their rivals 3-1 back in October and is desperate to have a bigger part to play this time around.

He said: "I've not played from the start against Celtic and I'm going to do my best on Wednesday to keep my place in the team. Hopefully I can do the same against Celtic."

He added: "We still need to win the game on Wednesday and then all eyes will be on the game at the weekend.

"You want to win every game but this week is going to be really important for us.

"We need to get a good recovery and be ready for Wednesday and hopefully get the three points."

But, even if Rangers do notch up another win against Celtic, Weiss insists the title race is still far from over.

He said: "I personally think it's too early to talk about that. We need to just concentrate on Wednesday's game and take it from there."

Rangers had played just one domestic game - the 1-1 draw at Inverness - in the last month and Weiss was thrilled to see them back to their best at the weekend.

He said: "I wanted to score my third goal of the season and I'm happy it came in this game.

"After they scored, it was really important for us to get the next goal and get the game on our side again. You need to look at the team performance and I thought we were brilliant.

"It was definitely a deserved win. After the break we've had, we really wanted to get out there and impress everybody.

"We've been working hard over the break and I think we deserved to win."