Ben Davies has revealed the keep believing message from Michael Beale that inspired Rangers to transform their fortunes against Celtic at Ibrox.
A late Kyogo Furuhashi strike denied Beale a maiden Old Firm win as boss as Rangers missed the chance to reduce their nine-point deficit in the Premiership title race.
But it could have been a far different story for the hosts after a dreadful start saw Celtic assume the lead and look set to go on and extend their advantage at the top of the table.
Rangers struggled to gain a foothold in the encounter and needed strikes from Ryan Kent and James Tavernier to turn the tables after Daizen Maeda had given Celtic an early advantage.
There were reasons for Rangers to be positive as Beale dropped points for the first time since he succeeded Giovanni van Bronckhorst as boss and Davies is determined to use the Old Firm showing as a platform for the remainder of the campaign.
Davies said: “We struggled a little bit to get going. Not in terms of desire but to get out passing going.
“Towards the end of the first half we started to get a bit more territory and to play around their box a bit more.
“At half-time, the manager sat us down and put that belief in us that we could go out and perform better.
“We turned it around within five or six minutes of the second half which is really pleasing.
“Obviously we’re all disappointed that we didn’t get the win but I do think there’s signs that we’re going in the right direction.
“The manager put the belief in us.He just sat us down and said that we can do a lot better than we’re showing.
“But I think we were together when we went into the dressing room, we were on the same page.
“Inside us, we all believed we could turn the game around - and we did that fairly quickly.
“But we’re just disappointed we didn’t see it through when we were that close.
“The belief was there [from the start] but obviously it’s an Old Firm and it’s hard to get your passes together and get your foot in the game.
“The way that we started the second half was absolutely terrific and I think we showed what we can do.”
The second Old Firm clash of the campaign will go down as an opportunity missed for Rangers and time will tell how costly Kyogo’s late leveller proves to be in terms of their silverware ambitions.
Beale remains unbeaten as boss after five matches in charge and Davies knows the only way must be up after a wretched first half of the season that left Rangers well off the pace in the Premiership.
Davies said: “I think since the manager has come in he’s made it clear we’re going in one direction and that’s forward.
“We’re not going to stand off anyone and we’re going to show who Rangers are.
“He wants to take us back to some of the performances the boys put in before. That’s what we’re trying to do going forward.
“It’s the same as before the game [in the table]. Obviously we had a chance today to cut the gap and that would have been good but there is still a long way to go.
“We still have to play them again and there are a lot of games coming thick and fast. It’s the same as it was before – no closer, no further away.”
