LEE Wallace stopped short of declaring “no one likes us, we don’t care” yesterday as he reflected on the animosity Rangers are subjected to every time they take to the field in Scotland.

Yet, the message from the Ibrox club captain as he looked ahead to a match that promises to see new levels of vitriol aimed in their direction was not altogether dissimilar to the line in the supporters’ chant.

Aberdeen and Rangers were bitter rivals before the latter’s well-documented financial meltdown four years ago. The ill-feeling hasn’t dissipated any since. If anything, in fact, it has only intensified further.

The first game between the two clubs in nearly five years – they last met at Ibrox way back in the January of 2012 – quickly sold out and the visitors are guaranteed to be greeted with an acrimonious reception from 18,000 Aberdeen fans.

Wallace acknowledges that, with the exception of the match against Celtic at Parkhead a fortnight ago, the encounter will be even more intense than the other Ladbrokes Premiership fixtures his side have faced this season.

But for the left back, who is set to return to Mark Warburton’s starting line-up this weekend after recovering from a minor injury, the ability to brush off the opprobrium is an essential quality for a Rangers player. He is convinced his team mates possess it in abundance.

“You have got to have that mental strength,” he said. “We want to send our fans home happy. They are the people who have suffered the most in the last four or five years. We really want to be playing at our best and getting the good times back for our supporters.

“Mental strength is a key aspect for how you are as a Rangers player. I think we have got a really, really strong group who are focused purely on football and how they can reach their best form, get the flow of the team back and get their swagger back.

“The venues that we have been to so far have still been hostile, but we know that this is probably going to be taken to a new level. But we have to be able to go to places like Pittodrie and get three points regardless of whether it is fierce or not.

“The guys who are new to the club realise that wherever you go there is probably going to be a fierce hatred towards Rangers. I think Scottish football knows that. But this will be slightly different from normal.

“But these are things that are outwith our control. We can't control the noise levels in a stadium or the hatred towards us. All we can control is what we can do on the pitch. We are going to go up there, enjoy the game and hopefully win it.

“Hopefully, we can take our game plan up to Pittodrie and build on the momentum that we have generated with our performance against Ross County and the result against Queens. We see this game as a game we can win if we do the right things. Probably as a player that is the only way we are thinking right now."

The training ground altercation between Joey Barton and Andy Halliday and the subsequent suspension dished out to Barton have been unwelcome distractions for Rangers in the last two weeks as they have attempted to rediscover their best form.

But a direct consequence of those events is that Jason Holt and Halliday, the duo who performed so well together as Warburton’s team romped to the Championship last season, have been reunited in central midfield.

Wallace believes the improvement in form which Rangers have displayed in their Premiership game against Ross County last week and the Betfred Cup win over Queen of the South on Tuesday evening is partly down to their involvement. He is optimistic an Aberdeen team which has finished second in the top flight in the last can be overcome.

“When Holty plays there is a different dynamic,” he said. “We know there is going to be a lot of movement. He got 12 goals last season and a number of assists so we know he is going to impact the game going forward.

“When he does that, he is going to make Kenny Miller a better player because he is going beyond and asking questions of defenders. The knock-on effect can be Barrie McKay playing well. And if Barrie plays well, there is a high chance of me playing well. And so on.

“When Jason is in the team I feel there is a real sense that he makes everybody better with everything he does. You have seen the quality he has shown in the last couple of games. We are blessed to have Holty back because he has suffered a little bit with injuries.

“I thought Andy Halliday’s performance against Queen of the South on Tuesday night was outstanding. He really showed a leadership quality which was great to see.

“We have definitely taken better steps forward. We are playing more like ourselves, back to how we were perceived to be playing last season. We created a number of chances against Ross County. The Queen of the South game was more of the same, if not better.

“That last half an hour when we played with that bit of risk, we came up with answers in the final third. We were that bit cleverer around the edge of their box. Those are the different aspects of what we maybe weren’t doing beforehand. It was pleasing to see and it’s about building on that from now on.

“It’s about us trying to find our best form, both individually and as a team. We are always working hard to put things right but, on the mental side, never get away from the bigger picture when you are playing for this football club.”