Paul Hartley reckons the Hoops are ready to pile the pressure on Rangers by cutting their lead at the top to one point when they meet at Parkhead on Wednesday.

The champions trounced Motherwell to get their title aspirations back on track, eight days after the Steelmen seemed to have derailed them with a 1-0 win at Celtic Park.

Looking forward to the crunch Old Firm game Hartley said: "We will put pressure on them. It's up to us to force the issue and try and win the game.

"Old Firm games are always difficult. We played well in the last one and didn't get the result. Hopefully we can get the right result.

"We had to win this game against Well and we managed to do that. The spirit has always been good, we have just not been getting results.

"Motherwell went up the park once last week and managed to score. We had numerous chances but we managed to take them.

"Sometimes it's just about putting the ball in to the net and we did that. The key was the delivery in to the box and that might be the key to Wednesday."

Hartley played down the criticism the club has taken over recent weeks, when they could only manage one win in seven before the trip to Fir Park.

He added: "We don't care what flak we take. Supporters have been giving us the backing, but they are obviously disappointed when they lose. But they were terrific again for us at Motherwell."