Rangers boss Mark Warburton has insisted that his players are not mentally wounded following their League Cup semi-final defeat to rivals Celtic, but stressed the importance of quickly forgetting the loss in order to bounce back.
The Gers came away empty handed yet again with their Old Firm rivals handing them a 1-0 defeat in the all important match at Hampden Park on Sunday.
While the 54-year-old manager admits that it is difficult for the fans and the players to accept the loss to their rivals, he also insists that the worst thing for the team would be to lose focus at this point in time.
With many important league fixtures still to come, Warburton insists that his team have to forget all about the loss and try to focus on the job in hand.
"I haven’t seen players mentally shrink after an Old Firm defeat", Warburton told his club's official website.
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"The fact is they played in a game at the National Stadium, and they are desperately disappointed to lose a game of football. You never want to lose any game of football, let alone a semi-final to your local rivals.
“We have to be better for that, we have to move forward and we have to focus on two very important league games."
Rangers' next match is against St Johnstone on Wednesday and Warburton insisted that his side are looking forward to it as they attempt to bounce back.
“There can’t be any hangover, and there is no use in feeling sorry for yourself.
"There are no fitness or fatigue issues St Johnstone played yesterday too just two hours ahead of us and Tommy [Wright] and his team will be working hard to recover.
"We are looking forward to what will be another tough game on Wednesday night.”
