Rangers must challenge Celtic for Scottish Premiership - Andy Halliday

Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday has urged his title-winning team-mates to push Glasgow rivals Celtic for the Scottish Premiership crown next season.

James Tavernier scored the only goal to beat Dumbarton at Ibrox on Tuesday and seal promotion from the Championship.

"We've got to be challenging for the title," said Halliday. "That's not me being arrogant or disrespectful to Celtic at all.

"You can't be at a club like this and be happy with second."

PODCAST: Rangers improve Scottish football - Lennon & McCoist

Tuesday's victory took Rangers to an uncatchable 79 points with four matches left and completed a four-year journey from the bottom division to the Scottish top flight.

With the club mired in debt, Rangers entered administration and then liquidation in 2012 under the ownership of Craig Whyte - who has since faced criminal charges over his stewardship at Ibrox - and had to re-enter the Scottish football pyramid in the fourth tier.

"It is an incredible achievement," added Halliday, 24. "Obviously it was our main goal since the start of the season.

"We feel we have been top of the season since day one of pre-season and have only been going one way - and that is forward.

"Now it's full steam ahead to the end of the season because we still have a lot of big games and then in to the Premiership, back where we belong.

"We are getting better and better."

Momentum important for boss Warburton

Rangers manager Mark Warburton, who has seen his team lose just three league games all season, wants to finish the campaign in style with further silverware up for grabs.

"It is the first step and the worst thing we can do is stop moving forward," said Warburton, who became the first Englishman to manage the club when he succeeded Stuart McCall in June last year.

"We want to hit 91 points. We want to win the league in style, convincingly and get momentum for next season."

The Light Blues will now prepare for life in the Premiership although first they have next week's Challenge Cup final against Peterhead at Hampden, followed by a Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic at the national stadium, before they finish their league season.

"Enjoy the good times, we have a big game on Sunday - a packed Hampden with 95% Rangers fans - hopefully we will perform well and win the trophy and play well the following week," added Warburton.

"We didn't want to limp over the line, rely on someone else losing a game.

"The pressure is always there at Rangers and if we drop our standards we will get hurt."

Hibernian head coach Alan Stubbs, whose side had drawn level with Warburton's men at the Championship summit before losing 4-2 at Ibrox in late December, congratulated the league winners.

"Congratulations to Rangers," he told BBC Scotland after his team defeated Livingston 2-1. "They have been the most consistent team over the season."