Like many Rangers fans, I sat and watched as Kilmarnock scraped past part-timers Arbroath to seal their promotion back to the Scottish Premiership, a return that sees another plastic pitch and a manager fond of putting 11 men behind the ball at the expense of a manager and team that would have been a refreshing change.
Derek McInnes is, of course, the man in charge at Rugby Park but – with a week to prepare – there is little chance of him moving on from the tactics that he used to employ at Aberdeen, those expecting an expansive game of free flowing football to get over the disappointment of Tuesday night will be sorely disappointed.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst will settle for three points however it comes, but a good performance and an early lead would be the perfect preparation for a game that could well shape not only our season, but the next few as well.
Familiar names like Ash Taylor, Lee Hodson, Alan Power, Jordan Jones, Blair Alston, Oli Shaw and Kyle Lafferty give an idea of the sort of squad that McInnes has assembled and you just know that we will see a team hell bent on keeping a clean sheet and defending with their lives – a 3-5-2 formation in their opening 1-1 draw with Dundee United will look every bit the 5-4-1 when they come to Ibrox, on loan Gers kid Lewis Mayo unavailable to play at the back for them though.
We saw against Livingston in the second half that when we play with pace and intensity that it is only a matter of time before the pressure pays off, but we also saw in the first half and against Union Saint-Gilloise, that when we are passive and don’t take any risks that we are easy to play against – Giovanni van Bronckhorst isn’t usually one for making the same mistake twice, let’s hope he has learned his lesson and gets on over on his Rangers former team-mate.