STEVEN GERRARD reckons Rangers have proven their character as well as their quality this season after moving a step closer to a Premiership and Scottish Cup double.

A 2-0 victory over Celtic on Sunday – earned thanks to Steven Davis’ opener and an own goal from Jonjoe Kenny – has set up a quarter-final clash with St Johnstone.

Rangers are just four games away from an unbeaten league campaign after wrapping up a historic 55th Premiership title as they also reached the last 16 of the Europa League.

Fears were raised over the mentality of the Ibrox squad following the Betfred Cup exit to St Mirren in December as Gerrard missed out on another piece of silverware.

But those doubts have been emphatically quashed in recent weeks as Rangers set their sights on further success in what has been a remarkable campaign.

Gerrard said: “The mentality has been top. We have been questioned in recent years about mentality and consistency, and rightly so because sometimes we have come up short.

“But this season, so far, there is only St Mirren where you can be critical and that was on me. I took that away from the players, I made the changes and I was responsible for that.

“From a European point of view, incredible mentality and our performance level to get to where we have got to.

“From a league point of view, we won it in March, which is unheard of, and now it is about keeping our standards levels and performance levels for as long as we can and all the way to what will hopefully be May 22.

“When I look around the group, the dressing room and the bus, I have got plenty of hearts beating behind me, plenty of them in abundance.

“No-one can ever doubt my players in that capacity when you are talking about endeavour, heart, desire. We have got loads of that.

“Listen, you need good footballers and you need talent, for sure. Especially at a club like this where the responsibility and the pressure is to deliver and win and be consistent.

“But, there is no point just having talent. You have got to have good people, people who are willing to put their body on the line and that all comes from heart, passion and desire.

“That is what these fans demand and what they deserve and it is my job to bring people in that are prepared to give them that.”

Victory at Ibrox was the third time in four Old Firm fixtures that Rangers have seen off Celtic this season and Gerrard’s side are now unbeaten in the last five derby clashes.

It is a record that speaks volumes about the progress that Gerrard has made in recent seasons but he won’t get carried away as Rangers continue to strive for improvement.

Gerrard said: “I think the word ‘calm’ sums up our performance today. We withstood some pressure at times but never panicked or got out of shape.

“We have come a long way from the first derby we played, the dressing room has come a long way.

“It’s not really important in terms of runs in the Old Firm fixture, it’s about winning as many games as you can. There has certainly been a mentality shift in terms of us going into the games.

“We are going into them with belief and confidence. We know what we’ve got to do.

“The message today before the game was ‘can we get back to being at our best, or close to our best?’. I think for large parts of the game we did.

“There were a few times we got to the edge of the box and never really found an outcome.

“There were times when Celtic’s good players opened us up and we had to soak it up.

“But, in the main, the players have delivered close to our best and got us an important win.”