Kris Boyd insists the Rangers players do not need former Ibrox defender John Brown telling them they have been below standard this season.

The Scotland striker hit back at the nine-in-a-row hero after Brown picked him out for a stinging rebuke.

The ex-Dundee boss spoke out after the Light Blues fell nine points behind Scottish Championship rivals Hearts.

He claimed the performances put in by Boyd, strike partner Kenny Miller and skipper Lee McCulloch so far had been "disgraceful" and "shocking".

But Boyd dismissed the 52-year-old's words - insisting Brown was just looking for publicity.

The 31-year-old said: "That's part and parcel of being at Rangers. It's not the first time [a former player has spoken out about me], it won't be the last time. When the manager tells you that you're not doing it, then you listen.

"Bomber [Brown], I've got a good relationship with him. Every time I see him, I speak to him. It's fine.

"I know the way Bomber works. He likes to open his mouth and have a go. But you can rest assured that it does not take Bomber to come out and have a go for us to raise our game.

"For the guys that he had a go at, or for everybody, it doesn't take somebody from outside having a go to kick-start our season. It's up to us to do it ourselves.

"Bomber's words did not have an effect. His words went in one ear and out the other.

"People have always got a lot to say about what happens at this club. But they only come out and say it when things are going bad. They are never quick to jump on the bandwagon when things are good. That's plain and simply because they don't get as much recognition.

"That happens when you are playing for a massive football club. It was someone else's fault last week so I wouldn't worry about it."

Boyd also leapt to the defence of his team-mates against Brown's suggestion the members of Ally McCoist's side have not been "pulling their weight".

"Lee McCulloch is in here at eight o'clock every morning," said Boyd ahead of Tuesday's Petrofac Training Cup semi-final with Alloa. "The rest of the boys are not in until the back of nine. There is no-one who works harder than Lee McCulloch.

"So before people open their mouth, they really should find out what is going on before they start having a go.

"We don't need anyone telling us we're not doing well enough. If we had been anywhere near our best we would not be so far behind Hearts."

Boyd will hope to be reinstated to the Gers line-up when they take on the Wasps at the Indodrill Stadium.

He was benched for the 2-0 Tynecastle defeat and left there as Rangers kicked off Sunday's William Hill Scottish Cup clash with his former employers Kilmarnock.

However, the rest seemed to do him good as he netted within 90 seconds of replacing Jon Daly midway through the second half as the Glasgow giants completed a 3-0 win.

And Boyd admitted McCoist was right to leave him out while he was struggling.

"Me and the manager had a conversation but that will stay between us," said the former Middlesbrough and Portland Timbers hitman. "But it was getting to the stage where I was getting frustrated. I was snatching at things, I was doing things I normally wouldn't do.

"I've never really been through a spell like I have this season where I have played this amount of games and not scored.

"The other frustrating thing was I was only getting one or two chances a game. I felt if I didn't take those then there wasn't a lot more coming.

"So maybe it was a good thing to come out of the team because sometimes it is good to take a back seat and re-evaluate everything then go again.

"I have put pressure on myself to score goals. I've done it all my career and that is what I will continue to do. I said at the beginning of the season I would be looking to get 20 to 25 goals this season. That's not changed."

Meanwhile, left-back Lee Wallace is likely to miss out again for Rangers as they take on Alloa at the Indodrill Stadium in the Petrofac Training Cup semi-finals on Wednesday.

The defender injured his ankle in training last week and sat out a win over Kilmarnock. Boss Ally McCoist admits the player is close to a return but may not want to risk him on the Wasps' plastic pitch.

Stevie Smith is also unavailable as he completes the two-match ban handed to him after his red card against Hearts, as is goalkeeper and long-term absentee Cammy Bell (shoulder).

Provisional squad: Simonsen, Wallace, Mohsni, McGregor, Shiels, McCulloch, Macleod, Clark, Law, Black, Templeton, Peralta, Boyd, Robinson, Faure, Miller, Crawford, Daly, Foster, Aird, Hardie.