McCoist stays calm despite Rangers' first league defeat

Kilmarnock’s Manuel Pascali celebrates scoring against Rangers (Reuters)

Ally McCoist, the Rangers manager, insists there is no reason to panic despite their 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock yesterday leaving his side with just a four-point advantage over Celtic at the summit of the Scottish Premier League.

Manuel Pascali grabbed the only goal of the game at Rugby Park to inflict a first league loss of the season on the Scottish champions and prevent them from claiming a 15th consecutive victory on the road.

Rangers had enjoyed a 12-point lead over their Old Firm rivals heading into last weekend's action but a goalless draw against St Johnstone and the 1-0 reverse against Kilmarnock – combined with three wins for Celtic – means Neil Lennon's side have closed the gap dramatically.

McCoist said: "I don't see it affecting the confidence of the players to be honest with you. We've lost our first league game today and it's disappointing. We'll have a look at the reasons for it. There certainly won't be any panicking.

"We were disappointing against St Johnstone as well and today was the same. Contrary to what a lot of people maybe thought, I didn't think we had won the title last week."