Skipper Lee Wallace has called on his colleagues to take victory against Hibernian in the Scottish Cup and truly bring the curtain down on the dark period in Rangers history.
With a Premiership return already confirmed after life in the lower divisions, the Hibs gave could see a sooner than hoped for return to European competition as well – not least the first Scottish Cup in seven years – and Wallace wants the players to end the season on a perfect high.
Speaking to the Official Site in his own pre game press conference, Wallace explained.
‘It will mean the world to me to be able to do it with this group of boys that we have, and I will be over the moon for everyone involved, and not just the players. The staff are thoroughly deserving of it, as are our fans, who have probably suffered the most over the last period of time. It would be nice and it would be fitting. It would make what has been a ‘good` season a ‘great` season. First and foremost, we are aware of Hibs` threat based on the games we have played, and equally, we know what we need to do to win the game.’
Having faced Hibernian five times so far this campaign, Wallace went on to say that we know what they are all about and the threat that they can carry, and he did believe that they’d definitely have their tails up for this one having missed out on promotion themselves this campaign – losing to Falkirk in the play offs.
‘We expect to face a team hungry to rectify the fact they missed out on promotion to the top flight. They`ll be hurting, and we know that will be their motivation, as will certain elements of their history. We just need to focus on what we do though and never deviate from that mentality and mindset we have had since day one, and that is about us and us only. We are aware of their issues and what they have got in terms of this game, but we know if we do what we do, prepare well and deliver our normal level of performance, then we should be fine.’
He added.
‘The games we have played against each other will have been great for the neutral, and it`s certainly become one of the more attractive games in Scottish football. It`s disappointing it`s been happening in the Championship as every top game should be there, but they have been good games. We won three, they won two, and we feel in the two we lost we were still the dominant side, and we realise at the same time how and why we lost goals, and these are things we looked at in the days after the games in our analysis. That`s been and gone though, and it`s just all about tomorrow.’
