Peter Houston last night warned Champions League hopefuls Dundee United to beware of a Rangers backlash at Ibrox tomorrow night.
Houston knows Ally McCoist's men will still be hurting from Sunday's 3-0 defeat by Old Firm rivals Celtic which brought to an end their recent on-field resurgence amid their on-going financial woes.
The Tannadice side head to Glasgow still chasing their Champions League dream – they are five points behind third-placed Motherwell with three games left this season.
United, who are gearing up for an Old Firm double- header – Celtic head to Tannadice on Sunday – won 2-0 on their last visit to Ibrox, in the Scottish Cup in February and Houston insists for them to make it back-to-back wins at Ibrox, his side will have to get the better of a team who will be keen to make amends to their supporters for Sunday's Parkhead loss.
He said: "Rangers are always dangerous when they're wounded. They'll want to get back in the good books of their own fans again so we'll have to be at our best if we're to win.
"You have to remember Celtic played exceptionally well on Sunday. Up until then, Rangers' form had been really good. We beat them at Tannadice in the league back in March and I thought we were fortunate to beat them, which I actually said after the game.
"But they've strung some good results together since then and we know that when they've taken a defeat from their nearest rivals they will be disappointed.
"They'll be thinking that the best way to get that defeat out of their system is by having a game so quickly, which they will be happy about and we'll have to be on our guard for that."
United are relishing the trip to face Rangers where they will be bidding to keep the pressure on Stuart McCall's side in the hope of forcing a winner-takes-all final-day showdown at Fir Park but should they end up missing out on that coveted third spot which would seal entry to the Champions League qualifiers due to Rangers difficulties, Houston is adamant his players have every right to be proud of their performances this season.
He added: "The players were disappointed by drawing at the weekend but Hearts are a very good side and people forget what we've done this season on a reduced budget.
"The players should be proud of themselves. They've not really achieved anything so far but what they've done is put in a fantastic performance.
"No matter what happens between now and the end of the season, they can hold their heads up high.
"Having said that, we still want to finish as high up the league as we possibly can.There's only three games left so if we can get a victory somewhere I think it could get us at least fourth place. However, that's not to say we're not being ambitious enough to try and get third."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article