NICKY Law has attributed the resurgence in form which Rangers as a team and he personally as a player have experienced under Stuart McCall to abandoning the "long ball" tactics of his predecessors.

 

The Ibrox club has won five, drawn three and lost just one of the nine fixtures which McCall has presided over since succeeding Kenny McDowall as manager last month.

That stretch of games has increased their prospects of finishing in second spot in the SPFL Championship and given supporters hope they can clinch promotion to the top flight via the Premiership Play-Offs.

However, Rangers have also been widely praised for the attractive football they have produced and Law, who often cut a forlorn figure under Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall, believes a less direct playing style has been instrumental in their revival.

The Englishman is the latest player to, in his case inadvertently, criticise McCoist following David Templeton's scathing assessment of the legendary striker's abilities as a coach earlier this month.

"It was difficult before," he said. "I wasn't enjoying it. We weren't playing well as a team and I wasn't playing well personally. The games were tough. We weren't playing good football, it was long.

"I felt that not just myself, but the midfield was being bypassed quite a lot in games and we weren't really involved in the games as much as we would like.

"We feel, as you have seen in the last five or six weeks, that we have got good players in midfield who want to play. We have played diamonds and things like that just to get people playing again. We have been playing good stuff again which we knew we would.

"In the early parts of the season there were spells where we did play some good stuff. But obviously there were more spells where we didn't and we were going too long maybe at times to big Jon (Daly) and people like that. It was always in the air.

"I just felt that at times we were getting missed out. But at times in the last few weeks it has been a lot better and we are playing to the team's strengths."

Law added: "I think everybody knows that we have got good players here. The signings were always people who had done well in the top league. The style of play has probably changed a little bit, it has been tinkered with a little bit, since the manager has come in.

"I think he has obviously been playing with two smaller guys up front together so you can't really play the long ball. The emphasis has been on playing out from the back and through midfield and getting the ball wide and I think everybody has enjoyed it. Hopefully, as I say, we can continue that into the play-offs."

Law, who has been linked with a move to English Championship club Huddersfield in the past, has admitted his disillusionment with life at Rangers nearly resulted in him leaving during the January transfer window.

The 27-year-old, who will be in the starting line-up for his side's penultimate Championship match against Falkirk his afternoon, stressed he is now fully committed to helping take the Ibrox club into the top flight.

"January was a time where the club was low and the playing staff was low," he said. "Speculation about me maybe came about on the back of the Celtic defeat. There were a few days where it was touch and go and I didn't know what was going to happen.

"But in the last few months it has changed. You don't want to leave a club of this size because it is a fantastic football club and as good as football club as realistically you are going to play for. Why would you ever want to leave it?

"Hopefully we can do the job now. It is in our own hands. We want to play with the clubs in the top league next season. It is why we signed. We are confident again now we can do that."

Law, who has been outspoken about the abuse the Rangers players take from their own supporters in the past if they are struggling, believes the increased crowds and renewed backing will also aid their cause considerably.

"We're as confident as we have been all season," he said. "A big part of that has been the manager. Even after drawing his first two games he was very positive. We are confident and looking forward to every game.

"The crowd are now behind us again after losing them for large parts of the season. Slowly but surely they are getting back on side which is huge at such an important time."