Rangers target winning run as SPL title race hots up

It is tight at the top in the race for the Scottish Premier League with Rangers and Celtic only separated by goal difference as they head into games against Inverness and Kilmarnock on Wednesday.

Rangers led their rivals by eleven goals before Celtic’s 7-0 demolition of St Mirren on Saturday drastically reduced the difference to just four.

The clubs face two weeks off league duty after Wednesday’s games due to their continued participation in the Scottish Cup before facing each other in the League Cup final at Hampden.

With 11 games remaining and both teams locked on 60 points, the title race could well be decided by goal difference as it was in the 2002-2003 season when the Gers clinched the title by one goal.

But Rangers defender Sasa Papac has told his team-mates to forget about trying to boost their goal difference and concentrate on winning all their games between now and the end of the season.

“It is important for us to just try and keep winning games,” the Bosnian international said.

“We are top just now and it’s important we stay there. We have 11 matches left and we’ve got to try and win them all.

If there is an opportunity to score goals then we must try and take it. However, it’s more important to get the three points.”

Papac added: “We’ve got a tough game against Caley Thistle now on Wednesday and our first objective has to be to simply win the game. They have started to pick up results recently since changing their manager.

“Terry Butcher is an experienced manager and we know that Caley Thistle will come to Ibrox and try to make life difficult for us. But it’s up to us to force the issue.”

Walter Smith will still be without Lee McCulloch, Nacho Novo and Pedro Mendes through injury for the visit of Inverness, who sit bottom of the SPL. However, Portuguese international Mendes’s thigh strain is not as serious as first thought and he could make a return in the Scottish Cup fixture on Sunday. Meanwhile Celtic head into their away fixture against Kilmarnock boosted by their thrashing of St Mirren.

And weekend hat-trick hero Shunsuke Nakamura believes the next month could be crucial to the Hoops’ silverware ambitions as they face four away games in a row.

“We have a run of away games now and it is a big month for us,” said the midfielder.

“I am looking forward to the game against Kilmarnock because I have always done well against them. But it is all the games coming up now that I want to play well in because they could be very important for our season.”

The Japanese international also praised the club’s strikers, none of whom scored in the 7-0 defeat of St Mirren, and backed them to regain their scoring form.

“I don’t think it is a problem, no matter what people are saying about it. All the strikers played very well against St Mirren,” Nakamura said.

“You have to realise that they do a lot of work for other people and that definitely helped me to get my hat-trick. They can take men away from me and give me a bit of space and that is what you need. They will be scoring soon, I am sure of that.”

Shaun Maloney and Barry Robson will again be missing from Gordon Strachan’s squad as they recover from injuries. Dutch striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink is suspended for the match.

Fixtures (1945GMT)

Tuesday

Falkirk v Dundee

St Mirren v Aberdeen

Wednesday

Hamilton v Hibernian

Hearts v Motherwell

Kilmarnock v Celtic

Rangers v Inverness CT