Whittaker desperate to face Bhoys

Whittaker netted an impressive opening goal during Sunday's 5-1 Scottish Cup victory over Hamilton after replacing Kirk Broadfoot in the starting line-up.He now believes he has given Walter Smith food for thought as the Rangers manager contemplates his team selection for Sunday's Co-operative Insurance Cup final against Celtic."I am desperate to play in it," the former Hibernian player told the Evening Times."I have not had a lot of playing time lately and this was a big chance for me."Hopefully, at the very least, I have put my name into the manager's thoughts for the game against Celtic."I just hope that I can use the win as a stepping stone to staying in the team and playing a part between now and the end of the season."To get the opening goal in what was a good team performance and what was, I felt, a decent individual performance, was big for me and I just hope that I get the chance to take that into next week."I put us one up and when you do that early in a game it gives you a lot of confidence. It helped me relax a bit and I felt that my game came on from that."

Source: Team_Talk