Goals from Nacho Novo and Chris Burke saw the Ibrox club safely through the quarter-final replay at Firhill into a last-four meeting with St Johnstone, with both teams bidding to meet Queen of the South in the final.

With the job done and semi-final spots secured in both the UEFA Cup and the Scottish Cup over the last few days, the focus now returns to league business and Wednesday night's visit to Celtic Park.

McCoist was reluctant to declare the title race over if Rangers do triumph in the east end of Glasgow but he believes a seven-point cushion and two games in hand would make it almost impossible for the defending champions to mount a comeback.

The Gers assistant boss said: "Celtic had a good result today, winning 4-1 at Motherwell, but it's important we don't lose sight of the fact that we can win the game.

"There has been a lot said about what happens if Celtic win the two (Old Firm) games but the fact of the matter is that we can win the game and if we do that we will put a massive dent in their title hopes.

"That's what we aim to do. We want to win the game. Once you start looking at draws, that's when you start losing. If you are offering me anything, I'll take a win."

Rangers snatched the championship from Celtic's grasp on the final day of the season in 2005 and, looking ahead to the derby, he added: "No, it wouldn't be over.

"You just have to look at what happened a few years ago to tell you that anything is possible. But you would have to say that we would be massive, massive favourites."

McCoist says he would be willing to accept a final day triumph this time around as well, as long as Rangers are crowned SPL champions come the end of what has been an epic campaign.

"Everybody talks about getting the league finished but we just want to win the league," he said.

"If were to win it on the last day, I'll be delighted. If we win it as soon as possible, I'll be delighted. If we are fortunate enough to win the title, we will take it any time."

With two First Division teams standing between them and the Scottish Cup, Rangers are now red hot favourites to win the trophy.

Aberdeen crashed to a shock 4-3 defeat to Queens at Hampden in yesterday's semi-final, a result which McCoist says served as a timely warning to Rangers ahead of today's replay against Thistle.

He said: "Yesterday was a brilliant game of football if you weren't an Aberdeen or Queen of the South supporter.

"It was perfect for us prior to our game in the respect that it showed how these teams can come back and bite you.

"I thought Queen of the South were fantastic yesterday and deserved their victory. Not that there was any complacency, but it was a wee reminder to us what can happen."

Daniel Cousin saw a late penalty saved after Simon Donnelly squandered the opportunity to haul Thistle back into the tie with a spot-kick of his own shortly after the restart.

"Their penalty probably didn't matter but ours could have changed the course of the game," said Thistle manager Ian McCall.

"The penalty was pivotal. Anybody can miss penalties and there is no blame to Simon but it was absolutely pivotal. You know you are not going to beat Rangers or Celtic when you miss a penalty.

"If I'm here for 10 years, I'm not sure we will get a better chance to win the cup."