Raith Rovers’ loan striker Ryan Hardie has been catching up on Rangers’ recent triumphs during his Monday training sessions with his parent club.
Now one of Scotland’s brightest young prospects is hoping to share his own success stories with his Ibrox team-mates by winning the play-offs with Raith.
After the 1-0 win over Livingston, Hardie has still not tasted defeat in his nine appearances for the Kirkcaldy side, scoring six goals.
And the 19-year-old is hoping to continue his impressive loan stint when Hibs visit Stark’s Park in the play-off quarter-final first leg on Wednesday.
“We’re the in-form team,” Hardie said. “The other clubs in the play-offs have slipped up over the last couple of weeks, so we’re going into it confident and we’ll give it our best shot.
“You can call us the outsiders, but in our dressing room, we know how good we are.
“We’ve got the confidence, and we’ve got the form. We’re unbeaten in 11 games and I’ve had no defeats with Raith yet – touch wood.
“It was a hectic three weeks for Rangers winning the Petrofac, beating Celtic and winning the league. I’ve been training with Rangers on Monday so I’ve been involved with it. It’s just up to me now to get Rovers through the play-offs.”
Raith continued their momentum and extended their unbeaten run to 11 games at Livingston courtesy of Aidan Connolly’s winning goal early in the second half.
The Fifers dominated the first half, with Hardie posing constant problems to the Livingston defence.
The striker did brilliantly to fashion an opening for himself on 11 minutes, nutmegging a defender to go through on goal, but goalkeeper Scott Jamieson managed to divert his effort just wide.
Rovers dominated the first half but could have been one down at the break but for a superb block from Iain Davidson in the 44th minute to deny Matthew Knox a certain goal.
There was another scare for the visitors early in the second half but when Jordan Sheerin out-muscled Davidson in the box Kevin Cuthbert was equal to his effort.
Rovers took a deserved lead on 49 minutes when Louis Longridge drove into the box and squared for Connolly, who fired home from six yards for his fifth goal since leaving Dundee United in January.
The hosts tried to fight back and should have equalised when a poorly defended corner saw the ball drop to sub Jordan White, but he fired wide from 10 yards.
Cuthbert also made an excellent save to deny Knox, before Connolly came close to adding a second for Raith in the 90th minute with a powerful effort that Jamieson spilled.
Raith boss Ray McKinnon said: “I’m really pleased. It keeps the momentum going so the guys will be confident going into Wednesday.”
He added: “We’ve nothing to lose but I’ve told the players to go and grab the opportunity.”