Stevie Smith will miss Rangers' Scottish Cup meeting with Kilmarnock today after his red card against Hearts. The left-back was sent off midway through the first half of last Saturday's 2-0 Tynecastle defeat and has been handed a two-game ban for his foul on Callum Paterson. Left-back Lee Wallace is also a doubt for the game with an ankle knock picked up in training, but goalkeeper and long-term shoulder casualty Cammy Bell definitely misses out. Meanwhile, under-pressure Rangers manager Ally McCoist insists his side are still good enough to compete with top-flight opposition - despite dropping nine points behind in the Championship title race. McCoist saw his hopes of escaping the second tier take a huge hit with that loss at promotion rivals Hearts last weekend. But McCoist believes his side are still capable of challenging the best sides in the country. They have already beaten Inverness and St Johnstone this season and with Kilmarnock the next top-division side to visit Ibrox, McCoist is keen for another chance to prove how good his side can be.
The Ibrox manager said: "I think we've proved we can compete with the 
Premiership teams this season, so we must go and do it again. We've beaten both Inverness and St Johnstone, which were both very difficult games and hard fought games - but I think we deserved to win them both. I think the boys have proved they can compete at that level with no problem at all. I wouldn't say this weekend's game is a welcome break from the league, but we're certainly looking forward to it. I think all the games, particularly this season, are of great and significant importance and the cup game on Sunday is certainly the same."
Kilmarnock striker Michael Ngoo is unavailable following the news that he requires an operation to correct his ankle problem. Otherwise managers Allan Johnston has an fully-fit squad. Rugby Park playmaker Alexei Eremenko will take on a vastly different Rangers team this weekend to the last Ibrox side he faced. But the Finland international insists McCoist's outfit will be just as tough to beat as the star-studded line-up he saw four years ago. Former Ruben Kazan midfielder Eremenko's last meeting with the Light Blues was during his first Killie stint in 2010. The Glasgow side cantered to a 3-0 win that day with a team featuring the likes of Allan McGregor, Madjid Bougherra, Steven Davis and Steven Naismith. But McCoist can only dream of calling on that quality of player these days, with skipper Lee McCulloch and defender Richard Foster the only survivors of the club's last title-winning squad.
Eremenko said: "There are two big games for teams like us, and that's against Celtic and Rangers - even if Rangers are in a lower division. Let's not fool ourselves. It's still Rangers, even if things are not going well for them. Okay they have problems off the pitch but it is still Rangers, still a big team and of course they are the favourites. The last time I played them was in 2010 and there are not many players from that time left. It's a different team but still that does not matter because when you play Rangers, it is always hard. You know what they say about taking on a wounded animal. It's dangerous. We cannot just think that Rangers are lost and have problems. That is the last thing you should do against a team in difficulty."