Ross County manager Malky Mackay feels his side can take encouragement from their goalscoring exploits against Rangers this season when they travel to Ibrox on Wednesday.
The Staggies make the trip to Glasgow having scored seven goals against the Europa League finalists, which is more than any other Premiership side.
County competed strongly in successive 4-2 defeats, before securing a 3-3 draw at Dingwall in January courtesy of teenager Matthew Wright’s last-gasp goal.
Mackay’s men need points to revive their European push, having dropped into sixth place following Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Motherwell.
Although he acknowledges the scale of the challenge, Mackay feels his side can take belief into the game.
Mackay said: “I’m under no illusions, I realise how difficult it is playing against the top two.
“They’re two terrific teams (Rangers and Celtic) on different scales to the rest of us financially and in quality.
“We’ve certainly had a go, and we’ll have a good go again.
“We’ve probably scored as many goals against them as any other team in the division. I’m not sure who else has scored seven against them.
“It’s a tough game for us. It will be a tough task for us on Wednesday night, but we can go there with respect for them while making sure that we go out there and do ourselves proud in terms of where we are in the league and why we’re in the top six.”
Rangers’ success has put Scottish football back on map
Although Rangers will not win the Premiership title this season, their Europa League final with Eintracht Frankfurt is followed by the Scottish Cup final against Hearts later this month.
Mackay has enjoyed watching Giovanni Van Bronckhorst’s men thrive on the European stage.
He added: “Number one, it puts Scotland on the map within UEFA and everyone in Europe.
“Recently we’ve been involved in the Euros, but in terms of club football there will be raised eyebrows across Europe that a Scottish team has got to a final.
“It’s fabulous for our country, and it will help in terms of coefficients going forward over the next couple of years – so that will help Scottish clubs.
“It might even help the country’s solidarity payment, I don’t know, but I do know that it’s going to give gravitas to football in this country again.
“Maybe players will want to come and play here, so for Rangers to come through the sticky ties they have come through against clubs like Dortmund and Leipzig, it’s a fantastic achievement for them. They’re now off to Seville to play the final.”
Staggies pair doubtful for Ibrox encounter
County have injury concerns over Connor Randall and Harry Paton ahead of the trip to Glasgow, with the latter missing out the defeat to Motherwell.
Mackay added: “It was a really poor tackle on Connor Randall in the first half (against Motherwell) that didn’t lead to any punishment.
“At half time, he was stiffening up badly with a dead leg, so we eventually had to take him off the park.
“We’re hoping that he should be okay for Wednesday night.
“Harry Paton took a knock on Friday in training, so we’re assessing him.
“He wasn’t on the bench at the weekend, he took a whack, so we’ll keep an eye on him and see where he is.
“I’m not sure he’s going to be available on Wednesday night.”
