Nacho Novo insists the Old Firm defeat will only serve to make Rangers stronger in the final weeks of their epic campaign.

The striker remains confident of title glory even though the 2-1 reverse at Parkhead on Wednesday saw Rangers' lead at the summit of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League trimmed to a single point, albeit with two games in hand.

Novo came off the bench to cancel out Shunsuke Nakamura's opener and had hoped his strike would all but kill off any hope of a third consecutive championship for Celtic but the injury-time winner from Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink blew the title race wide open instead.

The Hoops may believe they now boast the psychological edge, with another Old Firm tussle to look forward to at Celtic Park in nine days' time, but Novo disagrees.

"It's the first game we have lost in six months but everyone here is strong and this makes us even stronger now," he said.

"It's different if you have lost more games but we haven't lost for six months and I guarantee you that the team will be much stronger.

"We believe we will go the distance.

"The most important thing for us is to keep going, work hard, and think of the semi-final.

"The Old Firm game is finished, it's history. We have to go on and try to win games.

"We still have two games in hand and if we win every game we are champions. We don't like to think that everything is done - we like to think game to game.

"For me, the most important thing is Sunday's game which will be a tough game against a good side.

"I hope the side will be together and fight for each other and I'm sure we will be stronger after what happened.

"I'm only thinking about my team and as long as my team-mates have a good mentality that's the main thing."

Next up is the Scottish Cup semi-final against St Johnstone on Sunday, followed by the home leg of their UEFA Cup semi-final against Fiorentina on Thursday, before Rangers finally have another crack at Celtic.

"Obviously it will be tough but the most important thing is mentality - if you have a strong mentality you will not see any tiredness," said Novo.

"When you win, it takes the tiredness away and I'm confident all the boys will have a strong mentality."

Assistant manager Ally McCoist backed Novo's assessment that the players will be determined to bounce back stronger after the disappointment of suffering their first SPL defeat since October.

"Without doubt," said the Rangers assistant manager.

"Sometimes there are defining results in a season that can go for you or against you.

"I think that result will definitely make us stronger because the other option isn't an option to be honest.

"It's a different challenge in that we haven't had that challenge for a while, but it's not something that's new to us because we had defeats earlier in the league campaign.

"It's something we have reacted to positively before and we will react very positively again."

McCoist is now relishing the opportunity to pit his wits against former Rangers team-mate Derek McInnes, now manager at St Johnstone.

"There's nothing we can do about the Celtic game and there is no use worrying about things you can't affect," he said.

"So, with that in mind, we are not interested in the league at the moment. No interest whatsoever.

"We are interested in the Scottish Cup semi-final at the weekend against my old team and my old team-mate.

"It's going to be a great occasion and I'm really looking forward to it."

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