STUART McCall last night denied Rangers have any hang-ups about playing on the 5G surface at Palmerston Park as he prepared for the first leg of the SPFL Premiership Play-Off quarter-final against Queen of the South.

 

The Ibrox club has lost 2-0 and 3-0 on their two visits to the Dumfries ground in the 2014/15 campaign and looked uncomfortable on the synthetic pitch in both of those disappointing outings.

However, McCall, the interim Rangers manager, dismissed suggestions his side is unable to perform at the venue - and predicted the artificial surface could help them triumph this evening and take a huge step towards winning promotion.

He said: "The pitch at Palmerston? Honestly, I'd much rather be going down to Queens and playing on that surface - which is a good surface - than go and play on a tight, dry, bumpy, end of season rutted pitch, 100 per cent.

"We have players in our squad who are technically good, and you need to be on that surface. The surface is not a problem, one million per cent. It's a good surface and what you get at this end of the season is dry and bumpy pitches.

"The two games we lost there previously had nothing to do with the pitch - they played well and we weren't very good. Hand on my heart, there is not one per cent of a problem in the minds of me and my players about playing on the pitch, genuinely."

McCall added: "It's not an Alloa, which is not a good surface. Queens, along with Falkirk, have a good football pitch. I'm not one who would like to play on it all year round because of injuries and the likes, but for one off games it isn't a problem.

"We've good technical players and the pitch won't even come into my head, gospel truth. They've had two good results against us, and fair play to them, but that has had nothing to do with the park, they were better on the day."

Meanwhile, Richard Foster, the Rangers right back, has admitted the 11 players who are out of contract at the Ibrox club in the summer haven't performed well enough so far this season to justify being handed extensions.

Several members of the first team squad - including Kris Boyd, Foster, captain Lee McCulloch and Kenny Miller - could be offloaded by the in the summer and earning new deals is an added incentive to perform well in the coming weeks.

Foster said: "I can't look at this from a personal point of view. It is all about trying to get Rangers back into the top league. I will see what happens after that. I am not going into these games thinking about my contract situation. I am just going in thinking if I am playing I want to win the game.

"I think all the boys are in the same boat. But none of us have played well enough to warrant being told at this point whether we are going to get a contract or not.

"The main focus is getting Rangers back into the top league and if it means that gets me a contract or it doesn't then that is what I am going to have to deal with. But it isn't going to change my opinion. I want to play in all of the games and get Rangers back to the top league."

Elsewhere, Hibs yesterday announced they will charge supporters £15 to get into Premiership play-off semi-final against either Rangers or Queen of the South.

The Easter Road side had, like Rangers, expressed hope their season-ticket holders would be allowed into the home leg for nothing.

However, the SPFL have stressed this would be a breach of rules, a move that prompted Rangers to set all ticket prices at £5.

Hibs have now set the ticket prices - which include a £10 concession brief - and have pledged that once the 50% SPFL levy is paid the remainder will go to manager Alan Stubbs to strengthen the squad for next season.