Skipper Jason Thomson has urged Raith Rovers to take heart from last season’s Ramsdens Cup final triumph over Rangers and ensure they do themselves justice in this evening’s league rematch.
The former Hearts full-back accepts that changes in both line-ups mean it is difficult to read too much into Rovers’ dramatic 1-0 victory in extra-time at Easter Road back in April but, as the sides get set to face each other at Stark’s Park on league duty for the first time in 17 years, Thomson believes the Kirkcaldy men can still use that memorable day as motivation as they bid to pull off another shock against their Ibrox visitors.
The Fifers are seeking a fourth victory in five Championship matches but the defender is hopeful lessons have been learned from their sole defeat a 4-0 reverse against Hearts in which Raith fell behind after just 13 minutes.
Thomson said: “These are the games you want to play in. Hopefully it’s going to be a good atmosphere and we can go and give a good account of ourselves.
“We said that before the Hearts game as well but that didn’t quite go according to plan but we’ve put that to bed now.
“We played Cowdenbeath and beat them (3-1) the week before the international break so we’ll take confidence from that and, although a lot of personnel has changed since last season on both sides, we played Rangers in the Ramsdens Cup final and proved we can get the result.
“We can take confidence from that as well, even though this isn’t a one-off cup final, it’s a league game, but we’ll certainly be looking for the three points.
“When most teams come up against the likes of Rangers and Hearts in our league the main thing will be not to lose an early goal and let them get on top so, we’re not going to go and sit in but we need to keep it as tight as we can for as long as we can.”
Rangers head east with the same record as their hosts, a solitary defeat from Hearts giving them three wins from four to place them in second spot on goal difference.
It is that attacking threat that Thomson admits Raith will have to be cautious of.
He added: “They had a sticky start to the season but they’re a lot of people’s favourites and they’re starting to show why. They scored four in their last game (a 4-2 win over Queen of the South) and they’ve got plenty of goals in their team, which is something we’ll need to be wary of.
“Kris Boyd has proved he can score goals at most levels and he scored 20-odd last season in the top-flight. Now, he’s in our division but there’s many players in the Rangers team that can score goals and win a game, so we’ll need to be on our toes.
“I think we’re starting to gel. We had a bit of a disappointing start to the campaign but we’re still on nine points and we’re third in the league, so it’s not all doom and gloom and the boys are confident going into games now. Hopefully that will come through in this game.”
l Rangers striker Kenny Miller could be ruled out of action for several weeks after boss Ally McCoist he suffered a calf injury in training.
The former Scotland international, already sidelined by a hamstring injury this term, is due to undergo a scan.