ANDY MURDOCH has warned the Hibernian manager, Alan Stubbs, that Rangers have made it their mission to place his claims over the psychological strength of his players under the strictest of examinations.
Stubbs emerged from his side's 2-0 weekend victory over Hearts to state that fears over an end-of-season "wobble" at Easter Road had been emphatically answered.
Murdoch, however, believes that helping Rangers to victory at Livingston tomorrow night and leapfrogging Hibernian into second place in the SPFL Championship, albeit having played a game more, would keep their Edinburgh promotion rivals under considerable pressure.
"If we get a good result before another team plays, it can get inside their heads, so we will try to do that," stated the Ibrox midfielder.
"If you hear something has happened before your kick-off, it might put a wee bit of extra pressure on you. You just have to handle that.
"There are funny results at this time of year. Teams at the bottom are fighting against relegation and teams at the top are fighting for promotion.
"Every game is hard at this point of the season and that will be the case against Livingston.
"Wednesday is a chance to open up a wee gap on Hibs, but Livingston are on a good run now too.
"They won the Petrofac Training Cup a few weeks ago and had a good result against Falkirk. They are a good side and it will be a hard game."
Rangers, of course, have their own questions to answer. Despite beating Raith Rovers 4-0 at Ibrox on Sunday, their manager, Stuart McCall, was unhappy with the slackness that marked considerable periods of the game.
Rovers had the look of a side that has little left to play for. After going two goals in front before the half-hour, however, Rangers began to lose their way, too. Indeed, the game was dying a death before Nicky Law scored twice in the last 18 minutes to give the scoreline such a flattering appearance.
It is less than a week since McCall's tenure suffered its first serious setback with a resounding 3-0 defeat at Queen of the South.
Rangers remain vulnerable and there will be many challenges ahead for this much-maligned collection of players as they endeavour to win promotion.
Murdoch, however, believes defeating Raith was a step in the right direction and insists that any doubts over the appetite or attitude of McCall's players were assuaged by the fact they managed to record a necessary victory when it was already clear that Hibernian had come out on top in the Edinburgh derby.
"Losing to Queens was a blip and it was good to get a result at the weekend," said Murdoch.
"Someone mentioned at half-time that Hibs had won their game, but that didn't really impact on us. We had to get our head down and win the game.
"It doesn't really matter what anyone else does. We just need to focus on ourselves.
"The tempo was good in the first half against Raith and getting an early goal made it a lot easier for us to go and win the game.
"It was better than Thursday. That was a disappointing defeat, so we had to get the head down and get a result."
Murdoch left Ibrox on Sunday evening with the Man of the Match award. It seemed a rather odd decision, which the 20-year-old is wise enough to realise.
"It's been good to get a run in the team and it was nice to get the man of the match award, but I didn't think I deserved it," he said.
"Nicky Law scored two goals and he gave me a bit of banter about me getting it. He was asking if my dad was giving out the awards.
"It's great having the kind of experience that Nicky and others bring around me, though. They help me a lot and talk me through the game.
"We also speak afterwards about what I can improve on in my all-round play."
One individual helping the entire squad right now, though, is Haris Vuckic. Amid the wreckage of the deal which saw five Newcastle United players sign on loan in January, Vuckic has been the only fit enough to play a part.
What a part that has been, though. He has scored seven goals in 12 outings and it is tempting to wonder how comfortable Rangers' position in the play-off placings might have been without him.
"Haris has played in the Premier League with Newcastle and is a quality player," said Murdoch. "We now expect him to score when we play at Ibrox.
"He's scored in almost every game he has played, so he will be a crucial player in the play-offs."
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