MARK WARBURTON would have no fears about Rangers being paired with top-tier opposition when the draw for the fourth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup is made at Hampden this afternoon. The Ibrox club, who face Dumbarton at home in a re-arranged Ladbrokes Championship fixture this evening, were well beaten in their previous encounter with a Premiership side, St Johnstone running out 3-1 winners in the League Cup in September. Despite the comprehensive nature of that defeat, Warburton would have no qualms about being given another test against a rival from the top division and also admitted he “wouldn’t mind” if the draw were to throw up a first Old Firm Scottish Cup tie since March 2011.

“Would we have any trepidation about facing a Premiership side? Not at all,” said the Rangers manager. “Very respectfully, we would look forward to such a game. Everyone mentions the St Johnstone game but we have analysed it to death and it was one of those games.

“We had a lot of the football and didn’t put our chances away. We made a couple of individual errors and got punished on the evening. If you look at last weekend [the 4-0 Petrofac Cup win over St Mirren], we were 1-0 up and could have scored four or five. It is the random nature of football. So we would enjoy a Premiership tie, absolutely. We have had a good season to date, we are in good shape, we are confident and whoever we draw we will look forward to it.”

Warburton also dismissed the notion that the St Johnstone tie had arrived too early in his tenure. “We were prepared then,” he added. “We were on a good run of form, we were scoring goals. It was just a game where we made a couple of individual errors and got punished on the night. A great strike from a corner, and a fantastic strike that nine times out of ten would hit Row X but hit the back of the net. It is one of those things and we learn from it. We are in good shape and I don’t mind who we draw, we will look forward to it.”

The Englishman attended his first Rangers AGM last Friday at which it was announced the club had decided to repay the £5m loan owed to Sports Direct. He did not, however, expect this development to impinge on his ability to strengthen the playing squad during the January transfer window.

“I think it's a separate issue,” he added. “We don't know where the money comes from [to pay Sports Direct]. So if it's a separate funding source it doesn't impact on us. There's speculation that it does, but it depends on what money had been allocated to what account, so to speak.

"We have targets we can hopefully move for [on January 1] but again the market is constantly changing. Club owners and managers change and if a new manager comes into a club, they have no remits and views. You have your targets and you do your homework, but until they land here and sign for you, you never really know.”

Chairman Dave King spoke at the AGM of a need to sign players who would be capable of playing in the Premiership and, possibly, also in European football should Rangers again reach such heights. Warburton knows he must be selective during the recruitment process but warned the amount of money swilling around English football makes the job harder.

"If you are going to get players who are competent to play at the next level and the one above that, ie Europe, then recruitment is a key aspect of what you do. Sometimes you have to strike it lucky, be very astute at what you do, and do your homework because the number of talents available are getting smaller and smaller. We have to do our research and hopefully strike lucky as well.

“What pond are you fishing in, that's the key one. The market's getting smaller. As these big transfers happen down south the impact is it filters down. X amount is getting paid for a right-back or a centre-half and it impacts the market. The market's evolving - it's going in one direction and it's not going down, it's going up. As the money increases down south the southern clubs will look for value. If that value's north of the border they'll come here. Why pay £7m for someone in the Championship when you get it for £3m north. We've got to compete with that and be sharp and astute with our recruitment, hopefully.”

That search for value could lead English clubs to Ibrox in January with offers that could tempt away some of Rangers’ leading players.

“We have to be careful of that,” conceded Warburton. “If a club comes calling, any player leaving leaves on our terms and we have to have contingency plans in place. It's looking at new players and making sure we have options in place should disaster happen, for want of a better term.”

This evening’s match begins an important month of fixtures for Rangers that concludes with a potentially vital home match against Hibernian on December 28. Warburton, though, was not for looking that far ahead.

“They are all [challenging fixtures]. Everyone seems to raise their game against us. I look at the games Celtic play as well, teams raise their games against Celtic and the following week have a tough fixture. We are aware of it. Livingston was tough - we went there and they put in a great performance. Every week is a tough game, especially at Ibrox. Teams can thrive off of that as well. We have to be aware of it. I understand people are looking at the game on the 28th. But from our point of view, there is no point looking at the 28th if we lose two or three games in the meantime.”