Proud Steven Gerrard has revealed the half-time do or die message that fired up his shellshocked Rangers stars.
The Ibrox side toiled through the first period of an eventual Old Firm derby victory over Celtic and needed an inspired Allan McGregor display to keep the scores level at the interval.
Rangers toughened up for the second period to edge a monumental 1-0 victory thanks to Callum McGregor's own goal following a pivotal red card for Nir Bitton.
Gerrard admitted he asked his players just how much they wanted it and was delighted with the answer he received at the restart.
The result sends Rangers 19 points clear of Neil Lennon's side at the Premiership summit.
And Gerrard told Sky Sports: "It's another big three points, it's another clean sheet and I'm really proud of the team.
"First half, we weren't good enough. We weren't ourselves and I thought we were second-best in a lot of areas and for large parts of the first half.
"I thought there was a massive improvement in the second half. We were getting up to players, being more physical, we were believing in ourselves.
"So I was more pleased from the 45th minute to the sending-off, and obviously the sending-off is a big incident in the game and it looked like there was only going to be one team to win it from there.
"I just asked them how much they wanted to win a derby. Do you want to win a derby, especially at Ibrox where we're protecting our stadium and our supporters.
"You can't be passive, we've got to let Celtic know they're in a game, and credit to Celtic, I thought they played really well in the first half.
"But we were outstanding in a cup final for 90 minutes not so long ago and got nothing for it.
"It's about the end result, we've won the game, we stretch our lead, we remain humble and we move on to Aberdeen."
