GRAEME MURTY insists there will be no talk of a title challenge for Rangers this season despite their recent upturn in Premiership form.

The Light Blues have followed up their back-to-back wins over Aberdeen with hard-fought victories against Ross County and Hibernian.

Murty’s side are just five points adrift of Celtic going into their clash with St Johnstone at Ibrox this afternoon.

But the interim Gers boss won’t let his players get carried away by an improved run of results in the last few weeks.

He said: “Listen, that is far, far, far too premature to be talking anything like that.

“Let’s just get our business taken care of because we know we need to elevate our level significantly if we are going to maintain second, never mind push on towards the top end.

“We have to get better than we have been. We have won four games, which is a small step, nothing to crow about.

“We have achieved absolutely nothing so far. That is exactly what I am going to say to the players: ‘you have achieved nothing so far’.

“We always have to go out and earn everything that this game gives you, so don’t please take second place for granted.

“We have got a lot of teams chasing us and a lot of people who want to put one over us, and rightly so. We have to stand up to that and make sure we take care of business.

“If we do that, if we elevate our level of performance, then we will finish up at the end of the season where we deserve to be.”

Murty suffered shock defeats to Hamilton and Dundee last month as the Ibrox squad came under fire from supporters once again.

But the response has been impressive from the Light Blues as they have moved up to second spot in the standings and shown a different side to their game as they attempt to finish a rollercoaster year on a high note.

Murty said: “It is remarkable what can happen when you get a couple of results, it is as simple as that.

“All players are confidence animals to a greater or lesser degree and standing up to challenges that are thrown in front of you, as an individual and as a collective, that can really go a good way to bringing a group together and enhancing that confidence. You never know how far that can take you.

“The players are easy to work with. The players are a pleasure, at times, to work with.

“They are obviously individuals, they are all human and they all have good and bad days, you have to understand that. But, overall, they are good to work with.”