 Danny Lennon has no fresh injury worries ahead of Rangers pitching up at new St Mirren Park today. Lennon insists his side face more of a mental than physical test against Walter Smith's side. The Buddies are on a high after collecting their first three points since August last week when they beat Aberdeen at home. However, while Lennon welcomed the boost that long-awaited win brought, he believes his players must get into their heads the prospect of an altogether different challenge against the Ibrox side. He said: "First and foremost, the win last week was very welcome and overdue for the efforts the players have put in. It was a terrific performance against Aberdeen and we have to try and build upon that for this game. It certainly doesn't get much bigger but we are looking forward to it. We've to be at our best not just physically but mentally. "We have to be mentally strong from the first minute to the last minute. I certainly feel that is the difference (between the Old Firm and the rest). Look at the results the Old Firm seem to get. "The smaller clubs seem to think they are getting a point or something out of the game and all of all a sudden - bang - the Old Firm go up a level. So you have to match them mentally and be concentrated for the full duration of the game.'' Rangers could have Madjid Bougherra and Kyle Lafferty back ready for action as they are both expected to recover from slight calf strains ahead of the game. Smith branded suggestions that a team could maintain a 100% record throughout the entire season as ridiculous after they dropped their first points last weekend. Smith's side were aiming for 10 wins out of 10 in the SPL but were held to a 1-1 draw by promoted Inverness. They then suffered their first defeat in the Champions League this term, losing 3-0 in Valencia on Tuesday night. Smith claims dropped points are inevitable over the course of a campaign but is looking for his players to return to winning ways at St Mirren. He said: "We've made a good start to the season. You're not going to go through a season without dropping any points. I've said that on many occasions since the start of the year. The fact that we were winning game after game starts to bring ridiculous talk about you going through a season winning games. You don't do that - that doesn't happen. It's not happened in any of the time that I've been here and won't happen this season. Points are going to be dropped by a whole load of clubs. You always try to make sure that you're not dropping that many and that means we need to get back on track and try to make sure that we win. It doesn't change anything at all. We're were getting into the first week of November and hadn't lost a game. For any club, that would have been recognised as a good start to the season. We've had a good start and we just need to make sure it continues. We saw last week that, if we're not on top of our game, then we can drop points. We did that and deservedly so last week against Inverness. We have to pick up again and make sure we can get back on track. I'm sure we will.'' Smith expects St Mirren to provide just as strong a challenge against Rangers as they did when Gus MacPherson was manager. He said: "The away games always throw up a great deal of difficulty and St Mirren always have a good attitude and are difficult to break down. Under Danny Lennon, I don't think they will be greatly different to what they were under Gus MacPherson so they will still be the same. They have had some decent results this season but we look forward to trying to get back on track on Sunday. I don't think St Mirren will expect their season to be greatly different from previous ones.'' |
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