ALLY McCoist went against the grain of widespread hype last night by playing down today's Hearts-Rangers match as a pivotal fixture in the Championship title race.

The meeting of first and second at a packed Tynecastle has been keenly anticipated for weeks and victory would move Hearts a remarkable nine points clear of Rangers at the top. Both teams still would have 22 games left in their league campaigns, though, and a further 66 points up for grabs. McCoist, the Rangers manager, dismissed any notion of the lunchtime game being a title decider or make-or-break for either team's prospects of winning the league and automatic promotion.

He responded to suggestions that Rangers could not afford to lose by saying: "I wouldn't say that but I'm not thinking about losing it. We are 100 per cent focused on being positive. If we lose, the league's not over but defeat is not something we are contemplating. We are not even nearly halfway through the campaign."

Fans will not be forgiving towards McCoist if Rangers do suffer their third league defeat in 14 second-tier games, though, having already lost when Hearts and Hibs came to Ibrox. "I've been involved in football long enough to know that is what will happen," he said. "Win, lose or draw, there will be a massive reaction.

"We all accept that. But we don't go crazy when we win eight in a row and keep seven clean sheets. And we don't put our heads in the oven when we lose a goal against Alloa [last weekend] with 10 minutes remaining. We have to find a balance and will do that regardless of the result tomorrow. But we are not thinking about anything other than victory.

"It's certainly the biggest game we've played in a long, long time. It's probably the biggest league game since we started the road back, to be honest. In the first two seasons a lot of people felt we were going to win the league, even if there was the odd hiccup along the way. Now we are in a vastly improved league with better teams and we are facing challenges every week.

McCoist had not expected Hearts to set such a formidable pace in the opening three months of the season.

"Their level of consistency has been very good and it probably surprises me that anybody has been able to show that level of consistency in such a competitive league. They deserve all the credit for that.

"This is what we haven't had for the last two years. In a masochistic way, I'm certainly enjoying it. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't enjoying it when Alloa equalised last week. Far from it. But this is us back at the sharp end of football. We are back playing big games on a far more regular basis than we have been. The big games are coming thick and fast now."

Next weekend Rangers face Kilmarnock at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup, with Celtic to come in the League Cup semi-final on January 31 or February 1.