MARK WARBURTON believes Rangers are benefitting from a slight shift in focus as his side look to record their eighth successive win when they face Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup this afternoon.

After seeing their lead in the Championship whittled away late last year, Rangers have turned around their form in recent weeks and are now eight points clear of Hibernian. Rangers have kept four clean sheets in their last six fixtures as they have ground out important wins and Warburton is pleased with how his side are evolving and improving at present.

“We had that so-called mini-crisis where we drew a couple of games and we learned from that,” he said. “In the Hibs game, with the importance of the occasion, we were very good on the day and since then we’ve had some strong performances. But it’s a tough league, whether it’s the surfaces or the weather, and we’re in good shape just now.

“We learned about teams putting eight or nine men behind the ball and we lost patience. We lost our shape and pushed too many men forward in advanced areas without focussing on key areas behind us.

“We got back to basics like we did in pre-season and it’s worked well. It’s about recognising the ‘what if’ scenario and dealing with it. You have to be tight and you can’t leave yourself vulnerable to the counters.”

Rangers will take on Premiership opposition for the second time this season when former captain Lee McCulloch returns to Ibrox with his Kilmarnock side this afternoon.

The Ayrshire outfit will be underdogs as they take a break from their top flight survival bid and attempt to deny Warburton’s side a quarter-final berth. But the Ibrox boss won’t take anything for granted as Rangers look to continue their upturn in performances and results.

“We have to be resilient, well-balanced, good pitch geography and hopefully get the rewards for our possession,” Warburton said. “We tend to dominate games, on Tuesday night (against Raith) we could’ve been very comfortable by half-time. We didn’t get the rewards and it was a tough struggle.

“They talk about a ‘new manager syndrome’ but I don’t think that exists. The players will be keen to impress, whether it’s for Lee or someone else who comes in. It’s their livelihoods. It’s a tough test for us but we’re in good shape.

“I had a cup of coffee with Lee in the summer. David (Weir) obviously knows him very well. For someone who’s played 300 plus games, scored 70-odd goals, captained the club and played every position except goalkeeper – it’s a fantastic record and it speaks for itself.”