Trevor Carson thinks that Motherwell’s walking wounded can inflict further pain upon Rangers tomorrow evening, and he is banking on turning the already restless Ibrox legions against their young team in order to get his own side back to winning ways.

The Fir Park players, Carson included, were dropping like flies in their hard-fought draw with Dundee on Saturday. The Motherwell keeper managed to last the 90 minutes despite the shoulder injury that saw him sit out of the previous three matches causing him severe discomfort. Central defender Peter Hartley hobbled through too. Chris Cadden and Elliott Frear relented though, leaving them with just 10 men for much of the second half.

But even if they are travelling to Govan in a diminished physical state, Carson believes the diminished mental strength of their opponents makes that prospect a less daunting one than it once was.

“They are quite a young side and maybe they saw Saturday’s game at Kilmarnock as an opportunity to get away from the pressure at Ibrox,” said Carson. “But losing that game at Rugby Park has just mounted the pressure a little bit more.

“We know if we can go there and frustrate them early on we can maybe get the crowd to turn, but it’s going to be a tough game.

“I’m sure they’ll see it as an opportunity to put things right, but we definitely believe that we can go there and get a result.

“It will be in our thoughts that Ibrox has been a difficult place for them recently - you look at every avenue for any advantage you can get. Playing in front of big crowds is great when you are winning but if you are not doing so well - especially as such a young team who are maybe not used to that sort of pressure - it’s hard.

“But it’s up to us. It’s alright saying that but if you go there and find yourself two or three down after 20 minutes it becomes a hard day.

“So we have to go there with a game plan to frustrate them and there’s enough confidence among the group that we can kick on and get a positive result.

“If we had lost against Dundee that would have been five defeats on the bounce so that result just stems the bleeding a bit. It doesn’t sound great to get a draw against Dundee but it’s a massive point for us - a turning point - and we need to kick on now.”

Cadden and Frear won’t be available for the game at Ibrox, but Carson and defender Hartley will patch themselves up and pull on the boots once more.

“I hurt my shoulder at Celtic a few weeks ago and it’s been niggling ever since,” the keeper said. “My aim is to get through the next couple of games and then I can chill out for a few weeks over the winter break.

“But it’s not just me playing through pain. Big Peter Hartley was cramping up towards the end of the game because he hasn’t rally trained for two weeks.

“That says everything you need to know about him as a person, he just got on with it despite barely being able to run at the end.

“So we are the walking wounded at the moment but it sums up our character that we just dig in and help each other out.”

If there is one side that may not have sympathy for Motherwell’s plight, it will be Rangers, who were vocal in their criticisms of the physical approach adopted by Stephen Robinson’s side in their Betfred Cup semi-final triumph over the Ibrox side. So much so, that Rangers defender Fabio Cardoso compared them to wrestlers, rather than footballers.

“That gave us a laugh for a few days afterwards,” said Carson. “But football’s that kind of game where there’s a lot of impulsive comments after the game. After a couple of days everything settled down.

“It was two or three months ago. Much as I wish I could rewind to it and enjoy the feeling again of beating them to reach a cup final, but you need to move on.

“It’s just another game and a great opportunity for us to get a win on the board and kick on.”