Rangers ready for League Cup final

St Mirren and Rangers will battle it out for the first trophy of the season when they face each other in the League Cup final at Hampden on Sunday.

For Rangers it could be the first piece of silverware on the way to a potential domestic treble while St Mirren are looking to win their first trophy since their Scottish Cup triumph in 1987.

Runaway league leaders Rangers are the overwhelming favourites to lift the trophy in what will be their fifth domestic cup final in a row.

Walter Smith’s side have been beaten just once in the past 12 months and with a 13-point gap at the top of the league and a place in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals the Ibrox side could make it a clean sweep this season.

But while others talk of trebles the Rangers manager says his focus is solely on Sunday’s game.

“If somebody says ‘you’re going for a treble’, there’s an amount of arrogance in that statement,” Smith said. “If we do win it we’ll be delighted for that reason, and for that reason alone.”

While not as cautious as his manager, striker Kenny Miller says Rangers will have to work hard if they are to win the lot this season.

“We’re focused on getting the first part of the treble,” the Scotland striker said.

“There’s a long way to go; the league’s far from over, we’re in a cup final on Sunday – which will be a tough game – and a possible three games left in the Scottish Cup,” he said.

“So, we’ve not won anything yet and we know we need to keep our heads down and work away, which we have been doing.”

It will be the sixth time the Paisley-based Buddies and Rangers have faced each other this season with the Ibrox side coming out on top on four occasions, although all the matches have been tight affairs.

“Every game has been close and hard-fought. We’ve been fortunate enough to come out top in all of them,” Miller added.

“We know it won’t be any different on Sunday – it’s a cup final and there’s silverware there to be won. It’s going to be a tough game.”

The match will prove a welcome respite for St Mirren who are struggling in the league and haven’t won in nine games since they booked their cup final appearance with a 1-0 semi-final win over Hearts.

However after holding Rangers for 176 minutes in their fifth round Scottish Cup clash Buddies captain John Potter believes his side have a chance of causing a shock.

“The games, I think Rangers would admit, have been quite close but they are a very professional outfit and are a fantastic team,” he said. “They have a lot of players who can score goals and they don’t concede many either.

“We know it will be difficult but we managed a draw with them at our place and even in our last game at Ibrox we ran them quite close.

“If we play the way we can, hopefully we get the right result.”

Central defender Madjid Bougherra will miss the final for Rangers as he recovers from a torn hamstring and 18-year-old Danny Wilson is expected to deputise for the Algerian.

Defender Chris Innes is the only doubt for St Mirren as he continues his recovery from a torn abductor muscle.

On-loan Rangers forward Rory Loy is unable to face his employers while Tom Brighton remains injured long-term.

Fixtures (1500 GMT unless otherwise stated)

Sunday

St Mirren v Rangers