JOSH Windass reckons Rangers had their chances of recording a victory over Hearts away at BT Murrayfield boosted by the capital club handing their fans over 14,000 tickets.
Windass rounded off an impressive performance by caretaker manager Graeme Murty’s side in Edinburgh on Saturday when he netted a second half goal.
The 3-1 triumph kept the Ibrox club, who sacked Pedro Caixinha last Thursday, five points behind second-placed Aberdeen in the Ladbrokes Premiership table.
The midfielder enjoyed playing at Murrayfield – where the SRU are hoping to persuade the SFA to stage international matches after their lease on Hampden runs out in 2020.
The 23-year-old admitted that having so many of their supporters in the 32,852 crowd at the home of Scottish rugby had made their task far easier.
“I think playing at Murrayfield is a bigger problem for Hearts than the opposition because it’s a beautiful stadium and with 14,000 Rangers fans, it was a great place to go to,” said Windass.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a weakness for Hearts, but Tynecastle is quite hostile and a tough place to go. We went to Murrayfield and it was a nice pitch and a big stadium. It was brilliant.
“I don’t know if it was a mistake giving us so many tickets. They got good money for them, but it did help us a lot having 14,000 fans behind the goal shouting us on. It didn’t quite feel like a home game, as such but it was more like a Hampden-type game.
“The win will give us a bit of confidence. Hearts are one of the top teams in the division. So it was a good boost for us.”
Kenny Miller, who had been frozen out of the Rangers team by Caixinha, returned to the starting line-up and performed superbly.
The 37-year-old forward scored two goals before setting up Windass for his strike with a defence-splitting pass.
Read more: Aberdeen to let Rangers speak to Derek McInnes - if Ibrox club agrees to pay £1.5m compensation
His team mate believes the former Scotland internationalist's return will help his side to keep in winning.
“There’s a few leaders in that dressing room, but Kenny has that experience,” he said. “He’s a legend at this club and the lads look up to him.
“He’s just been the same. He’s been training with us every day and nothing has changed in terms of routine.
“He could have easily downed tools, I guess, but he stayed professional, kept training hard and he showed his fitness by playing 80-odd minutes on Saturday.
“We’ve got quite a good connection between us. For my goal, he saw me move beyond the left back and picked me out perfectly. I just had to bury it.”
Windass missed two decent scoring opportunities in the Betfred Cup semi-final defeat to Motherwell at Hampden eight days ago and admitted he had been pleased to score against Hearts.
Read more: If Derek McInnes says yes to Rangers it will be Aberdeen's biggest setback since Fergie left
“Who knows if having Kenny back would have made a difference against Motherwell?” he said. “If I had scored my chances we’d have won the game. But he played really well today and it’s good to see.
“I was angry. I’ve missed a few chances in the last few games. I think my performances have been reasonably good, but it gets tarnished when you miss a few chances, important chances. I tried not to let it get me and obviously the goal has done me the world of good.”
Meanwhile, Windass has dismissed claims the Rangers dressing room is divided following the departure of Caixinha and expressed hope they could go on a run and climb up the league table after the win over Hearts.
“There were a lot of smiling faces on Saturday, a lot of music being played and the team spirit seemed good to me,” he said.
“The performance of Alfredo (Morelos) speaks volumes. He didn’t get his goal, but his hold-up play was the best I’ve seen from him. It’s a good dressing room.
“It will give us a bit of confidence. Hearts are one of the top teams in the division. So it was a good boost for us to go there and win quite convincingly.
“Celtic are obviously playing really good football at the moment. They are still unbeaten, which is an unbelievable achievement, but hopefully we can push as high as we can and who knows where we can get to.
“Our performances haven’t been good enough. We haven’t played anywhere near to our capabilities and the performances and results have proved that. We are not getting ahead of ourselves. We know we don’t have a right to be top of the league. We’ve got to earn it.
“I don’t think it was a statement on Saturday, but there was a bit of character from the lads to come back from what was a wonder goal, to be fair. The goal set us back, put us under the cosh for 15 to 20 minutes, but we came through it.”
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