Assistant boss Ally McCoist has hit back at critics of the four Rangers stars who withdrew from Scotland duty for the friendly with Croatia.Controversy surrounded the unavailability of skipper Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch, Christian Dailly and Allan McGregor for George Burley's first match in charge of the national side, the 1-1 draw with Croatia at Hampden.

All four are expected to be passed fit for the visit of defending SPL champions Celtic, who trail Rangers by three points and who have played a game more.

But McCoist has no time for suggestions they were merely being kept fresh for the Celtic clash.

"The fact of the matter is the medical staff at Scotland declared them unfit, which they were," McCoist said.

"I can understand what all the fuss is about because it makes good reading, good television and good radio but they were declared unfit and we knew they were unfit.

"I would just like to tell you that there is nobody wants to play for their country more than those boys in the dressing room.

"People forget, it's a real honour to play for your country as it should be and those lads want to play for their country."

He added: "They are all better, I am delighted to say.

"We will have another look and we will give them right up until the kick-off.

"But we are hopeful that they will be involved and if all of them are fit to play I will be more than pleased."

McCoist admits this Old Firm fixture is so keenly awaited that next week's UEFA Cup quarter-final first-leg encounter with Sporting Lisbon at Ibrox has been all but ignored.

He said: "I sense that there is a little bit more interest in this game than any other Old Firm game for a very long time.

"Ian Durrant was over at Lisbon last week to see Sporting and they got knocked out of the League Cup on penalties.

"He came back on Monday and - in the nicest possible way - nobody wanted to talk to him about the game because we are focusing on the game against Celtic.

"We will get this game out of the way and then we will look at Ian's report on Sunday morning.

"We have an opportunity to create a bigger gap between us and Celtic and that is something that we want to do.

"The players are the same as the punters in the respect that they get excited, they talk about it, they look forward to it and I can tell you that our lads are really looking forward to it."

McCoist added: "There is equal pressure on both sides.

"It is as vital for us to win this as it is for Celtic.

"Both clubs are doing very, very well in the league and the recent results have been very good.

"I just think that the punters and fans feel that something has to give.

"I don't know who the draw suits. I'm not thinking about drawing and I'm not thinking about losing.

"We are thinking about winning the game.

"There is a danger that if you think about looking for a draw or accepting a draw, that you don't get that or a win.

"So we will be doing our best to win."

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