Nothing to lose at Ibrox

04/11/13; JJ - "We are all looking forward to it and I think we will surprise a few and give a good account of ourselves."

Jim Jefferies is well aware how Wednesday night's opponents have won every league match this season although he is happy to recall what he described as some scary moments for the Ibrox side,

"Against Brechin they were a couple of goals down twice but the bottom line is that they have come through and got the result. Nobody in the league has taken a point off them so that is incentive enough for our players to go out and try and take a point off them. We can try to be the first team to do that.

"We have played everybody else and even though there have been some tight matches, we feel that we can look back and say that we are the next best team and they have not faced us yet.

"We know that it will be tough because of the lack of experience in comparison to their players . Some have Premier League experience while some of our players have never even seen Ibrox and never been inside it."

This was the fixture that everybody looked for when the fixtures were released in June and the fact that it has taken until November for it to come around is due to the international call ups of several Rangers players that caused the postponement of the original date in October.

"It is a tremendous game to look forward to for them to believe. We believe in them and if they believe in themselves that they can go out there and not get stage fright because of the names on the team sheet and the 45,000 crowd.

"That is something that they will have to learn if they are going to play at the top level. It will be a learning curve for them and if they enjoy it and do themselves justice they will get more of it.

"That is where we will get the spin off of wanting to play Rangers again at Ibrox and they can do that again if they get promoted. It looks like Rangers will get the top spot and we have to make sure that we get in there. First of all we have to get to the play off positions."

The Manager sees it as a good time to face Rangers when they are back up second equal in the league and no matter what happens no other clubs will be overtaking them because there are no other fixtures as this game in hand gets played.

"It is a game in hand where we have everything to gain and nothing to lose really. We are all looking forward to it and I think we will surprise a few and give a good account of ourselves."

The delay in playing Rangers is perhaps unlucky but Jim Jefferies noted that they got around playing some of their new men as trialists.

"If that's the rule they are not breaking any rules, they are just being clever. Once that deadline was passed they put these boys in. You can see the strength and that we know that they have had a lot of success this season from set plays.

"It is massive for them and a massive problem for a lot of opponents. If we give away lots of daft, silly free kicks around about the area they have some big lads. That might make me come around to thinking of getting players in the team who can handle the aerial threat more at set plays.

"When you look at McCulloch, Daly and Mohsni, Little is very good too and there are some big lads in there but as long as they are being challenged and not given free headers that makes it very difficult for them. If they switch off and think that they are going to beat people in the air by feet on the ground and not getting off and attacking it, then they are asking for trouble."

For most of the players it will be their first trip to play at Ibrox but the Manager is well experienced of taking sides to face Rangers there:-

"I have experienced some good performances but like most managers who go there I have also had some defeats. If they get a goal early, their fans get right up for it immediately. The best way is to quieten them with good possession of the ball, keep our shape good and disciplined. We will have to be.

"In this league you can sometimes get away with a lot of things. You can get away with going gung-ho at times. Okay sometimes you get punished if it is too much but sometimes I have seen us do that and not get punished for it.

"We have to be a bit more streetwise on Wednesday given the experience that we are playing against. We will need to pick our moments to go forward but most of all when in possession of the ball we must pass it well. If we can pass it and keep it from them, then they will be less dangerous. The best form of defence is to attack.

"Hopefully we will not be encamped and they will not be under instructions to encamp on the edge of their box. You are asking for trouble. We will try and get them up the pitch and try and cause them problems.

"It is about getting the balance right between when we don't have the ball and making sure that our shape is good and when we don't have the ball, going to have a go. People in the last third should be thinking about taking some of them on, having a go and not looking to passing the buck. Having a belief that they can go in there and cause problems.

"We have people who can cause them problems. I have a lot of belief in this group that they can cause any team problems as they showed in pre season against Hearts and Dundee United.

"We have nothing to fear greatly on Wednesday. There will be no pressure on us and for the first time this season we will not be the favourites so maybe that will help."

The Boxing Day fixture away to Arbroath has been brought forward to Saturday 21st December with a 3.00pm kick off.  With the home match against Rangers having been moved to Monday 30th December for television that leaves an eight days Pars free Christmas!