Ziggy Gordon is hoping to pile more pressure on Rangers manager Mark Warburton when Partick Thistle make the short trip to Ibrox on Saturday.
The right-back has never played at the venue, but is bracing himself for a hostile reception. He feels though that Thistle can turn the crowd against the hosts if they start on the front foot.
And despite the draw against Motherwell on Saturday leaving the Jags rock bottom of the Premiership table, Gordon says they are full of confidence ahead of the match in Govan.
The Firhill men feel aggrieved that their level of performance hasn’t been matched by their results, but Gordon is hoping that if they can find a ruthless streak, they can shock the Ibrox faithful.
“I’ve heard the atmosphere is electric and they really get on your back to help their team as much as they can,” Gordon said.
“I think it’s crucial that we start the game well, and hopefully that will backfire on them and the crowd gets on their backs.
“I’ve been to difficult places like Celtic and Hearts, and if you do start the game well then you get more confidence and you start to believe even more that you can win the game.
“It will probably be one of the best Rangers sides we’ll see this season because of the disappointment of defeat at Aberdeen, but we just need to be ready for it.
“There’s no lack of belief in this team, purely because of the quality in the team and the level of performance doesn’t match the return we’ve had. Anyone who has seen us this season could see that.
“We’re playing good football, we’re just not finishing it, but I feel bad for the team who is going to be playing against us when we do start finishing.
“The boys have been saying it, it’s going to come when we really damage a team, all we need is for a few of our chances to be converted, and hopefully that team will be Rangers on Saturday.
“It’s small margins. If we can go to Rangers and create an upset on Saturday, then we’ll climb the league again. There’s nothing in it.
“We don’t even see ourselves as the bottom club, there’s three points in it between the bottom and sixth place, so we just see us as playing well.
“If we put in the same sort of performance that we have recently, then there’s no reason why we can’t win the game at Ibrox.”
It remains to be seen if striker Ade Azeez, who came in for particular criticism for being wasteful in front of goal last weekend, will be given the nod to again lead the Thistle attack at Ibrox.
While most of his team-mates have publicly backed him, the candid Gordon admits that he was frustrated by the striker’s finishing as he should have put his team out of sight.
He knows though that Azeez will be even more disappointed in himself than Gordon was, and will be itching to put that right as soon as possible.
“No one gives anyone any stick after the game, but we all expect certain standards from each other,” he said.
“I wasn’t feeling bad for Ade, I was more annoyed if I’m totally honest!
“That soon passed after a day or two, but I was disappointed after the game and I’m sure he’s even more disappointed than me in himself that he didn’t finish any of the chances.
“The fact is though that he’s getting those chances and he’ll continue to get those chances, all he needs is that elusive goal.
“We’ve got goals in the team, so it’s very frustrating that we’re allowing teams back in it.
“We’re dominating against teams, and we’re just not putting away the chances to kill the game, and it’s so important in this league to kill off games.”
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