Jon Daly, the Rangers striker, last night urged his team-mates to be wary of the play-acting and gamesmanship from Hearts which he feels characterised the last meeting between the two sides.
The Tynecastle club arrive at Ibrox tonight knowing victory would give them a commanding 16-point lead in the Championship table. Bobby Madden, the referee, may need his wits about him.
The Ibrox side were making a decent fist of the previous meeting between these two teams in Gorgie in November until Steven Smith was dismissed for a bad tackle on Callum Paterson. The likes of Kenny Miller, Kris Boyd and Ian Black could also regard themselves as fortunate not to follow him the pitch on that occasion, but the Irishman feels that gamesmanship from their opponents was a contributory factor.
"I felt the last time they went down fairly easily and rolled about a bit and I still think they did - my opinion hasn't changed," Daly said. "That's something we are going to have to wary of this time round and make sure we don't give the referee any decisions to make.
"That's not the way I play the game," he added. "As I'm sure you are all well aware, I play the game hard and fair. If I get hit I take it and move on. But that's something that we need to be wary of that we don't make any rash tackles that are going to incite the away fans and give the ref a decision to make. The referees have difficult jobs and they can only judge things on what they see and if they see players acting the way they do it obviously makes their job more difficult."
Meanwhile, Kenny McDowall, the Rangers manager, has urged his players to prove their points on the pitch after Fraser Aird claimed the Ibrox side had a better team than their Championship rivals. A minor war of words has broken out in the lead-up to the game, with Aird branding Hearts new boy Genero Zeefuik "disrespectful" for insisting victory would effectively end the title race, but McDowall last night issued a mild rebuke in the winger's direction. He knows the league table doesn't lie and there is no time like the present if the Ibrox side are to make good on their winger's boasts. To date, in a combined four meetings with Hearts and Hibs, Rangers have yet to claim a single point.
"While it is okay saying it, the Hearts boys at this point in time are 13 points clear so they have a right to say what they want to say," said McDowall. "You need to be careful how you put it out there. Absolutely you should be confident but keep a lid on it. Do your talking on the park.
"I can't argue with the league table at all," added the caretaker boss. "Hearts have gone unbeaten so far so I can't say Hearts don't deserve to be where they are. Robbie Neilson will be well pleased with how his season has gone and they absolutely deserve to be where they are."
While a show of unity from the stands may help Rangers, such a scenario seemed distinctly unlikely last night. McDowall and Daly were speaking at Murray Park on the day it emerged that Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley had asked for security over the club's training ground and Ibrox Stadium in return for a planned £10m loan. The Rangers Supporters Trust (RST) called last night for a "mass demonstration" at the stadium tonight, some 45 minutes before kick-off.
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