RANGERS supporters had other things on their mind yesterday, namely concern over the possibility of the title deeds to Ibrox and Murray Park being signed away to Mike Ashley.

But deep inside one of those contested pieces of real estate minds remained fully focused on ensuring the club's championship ambitions weren't also being given away without a fight.

Football, as they say, is all about opinions. But it is, undeniably, put up or shut up time for this Rangers team. Whether you regard his comments as naive, ill-advised or merely a welcome jolt to a few bruised egos, Fraser Aird articulated an oft expressed sentiment when he mentioned on Wednesday that individually and collectively the Ibrox side were better than the championship leaders.

Unfortunately for the Canadian-born winger, the stats don't exactly bear that out. Having played the same amount of matches, the Tynecastle side have earned 13 more points than their Ibrox counterparts, scored 10 more goals and conceded 10 fewer. They have won both of the meetings between the teams this season, part of Rangers' miserable four-match losing league run against their championship rivals from Edinburgh. On current form, few other than Lee Wallace could be regarded as uncontroversial choices for a combined select.

There is, however, some mitigation to be found. Back in August, when everything seemed more hopeful, Rangers had enough chances to win the match and looked to have secured a late point before the sucker punch from Osman Sow which cost them the match. Fast forward to November, and their game plan was working efficiently enough until Steven Smith was sent off for a bad tackle on Callum Paterson.

What transpired next, with the likes of Kenny Miller, Kris Boyd and Ian Black nearly following him off the pitch in an eventual 2-0 defeat, was either a severe loss of discipline or the consequence of Hearts' playacting. Jon Daly for one went off into the night swearing blind it was the latter, and the Irishman returned to that theme yesterday with the suggestion his team-mates, if not referee Bobby Madden, should be prepared for such behaviour tonight.

However it all plays out, defeat in the archetypal six pointer would allow Hearts to stretch their lead to a commanding 16 points, while victory would not only puncture the Gorgie club's proud unbeaten record, it would cut it to 10 and may cause them to start glancing nervously over their shoulders.

"Fraser has his opinion on things and he's entitled to that opinion," said Daly. "I agree with him in that we have got a very good squad here. But I think Hearts have shown they have got a very good squad too. It's up to us now to show that we have got a very good squad of players by getting the three points that will help us claw back the gap that Hearts have created. To inflict the first defeat on them would obviously give us a big boost too."

This trend of losing matches against the club's main rivals is worrying, though, and somewhat surprising given Rangers' 100% record against the Premiership sides they have faced this year. "You can analyse each game differently, but I think in three out of the four games we've missed chances at key times of the game that have ultimately come back to punish us," said Daly. "The red card at Tynecastle didn't help either. It's something we are going to have to put out of our minds."

Hearts are running out of obvious places to drop points but Daly for one doesn't give the impression of a man who has chucked in the towel. "If we win we'll have clawed at a gap that was 15 to 10 - that's 33 per cent off," said the Irishman. "It's a big chunk of points, although we'd still need them to drop points elsewhere and make sure we do our own job as well. I wouldn't say Hearts will be panicking if we beat them but it might just plant a seed of doubt. It would give other teams confidence to see that they can be beaten."

For all Daly's protests about Hearts players playacting, it is worth stating there are no complaints whatsoever from McDowall. For him, the onus is simply on Rangers players to play within the limits. "I think you need a level of aggression in any game but it has to be controlled aggression, you can't just go flying in on people recklessly," he said. "They will know themselves how far they can go. But it is one of the problems of the modern day game, you can get booked for pretty much anything these days."

Daly has been keeping Kris Boyd out of the starting line-up in recent times, and given the ongoing financial predicament at the club, the striker moving on remains a distinct possibility. "He's a squad player like everybody else," said McDowall. "At this moment in time he's not in the team. I've spoken with Kris and told him I'd prefer to have him here than not here. But I can't do anything about it if someone comes in for him and he wants to go."

With a supporter protest scheduled pre-match, it is anyone's guess what kind of atmosphere will provide the backdrop. McDowall recognises these are extraordinary times. "The obvious thing for me to say is that the bigger support we have behind us, the better," he said. "But it's up to the supporters to make their mind up. They've every right to come or not come."