Football: Burns confident of halting Rangers' run

Tommy Burns yesterday insisted Celtic can put an end to a nine- match run against Rangers without a win - six defeats and three draws over the last 22 months .

The Celtic manager believes his side will win tomorrow's Tennents Scottish Cup quarter- final at Parkhead. "Never once in the past two seasons have we been outplayed in these games," he insisted.

"If anything, we've outplayed Rangers on several occasions and only the brilliance of Brian Laudrup or Paul Gascoigne, or our defensive errors, have been decisive.

"We have not defended properly against Rangers in the past and we must defend properly on Thursday night. If we do we'll have a real chance because we have players who can score goals and we believe we can beat any team in this country."

Burns has enjoyed just two victories from 13 games against Rangers during his Parkhead management, with the last a 3-0 success at Hampden on 7 May 1995.

Burns will leave it late to name his side, but Enrico Annoni looks like filling the right-back position as he plays in an Old Firm match for the first time after his arrival from Roma.

Richard Gough is giving Rangers cause for concern because of a calf injury, and Walter Smith is already without Paul Gascoigne, Sebastian Rozental and Stuart McCall.