Ross Forbes says that rumours of Rangers’ demise have been greatly exaggerated after Hibernian managed to claw their way back into the Championship title race.
The Edinburgh club reduced the deficit at the top of the table to just three points following victory over Mark Warburton’s men and Rangers’ recent draw with Livingston.
The Morton midfielder says that those two results along with thirteen wins from fifteen league matches hardly constitute a crisis though, and that his side are going into Saturday’s fixture at Ibrox knowing they are in for a tough afternoon.
He said: “Personally I wouldn’t say Rangers have tailed off at all, they’ve only lost one game since the league started, so I don’t know how people can translate that into them being off-form.
“I think the notion that Rangers have gone off the boil compared to the start of the season has been massively over-exaggerated. At the end of the season if they win the league they’ll not look back at wee dips in form or whatever, it’s the points you win overall that count.
“You’ve got to give them credit, they’ve only been beaten once in the entire league campaign so far, so it’s a fantastic record that they’ve got.
“In saying that, we’re all looking forward to playing them. Ibrox is a great place to go and play so it’s one that everybody should be relishing.
“There’s an excitement around the place from both the players and the fans. It’s what we won the league for last season – to earn the right to go to places like Ibrox and there is a massive incentive for us to go out there and show people what we can do.
“I definitely think we’ve got a chance of getting something. We go into every game with the attitude that we can get points and I don’t think this will be any different.
“From our point of view we’re also on a great run, so hopefully that will benefit us going into the game with that winning mentality.
“I’ve never won a game at Ibrox but I got a draw when I was with Motherwell on the last day of the season one year, so I’m hoping to go one better.
“These are the places that you want to play as a professional footballer and it’s up to us to make the most of it.”
Forbes admits that the Morton squad were frustrated to have last week’s game against Hibs called off with the team in such good form.
Currently sitting in the play-off places in fourth position, the Championship new-boys are defying everyone’s expectations – except their own.
“We definitely didn’t want that break when we were playing so well,” Forbes said.
“Then there’s the fact that other teams maybe get a chance to play when you don’t and they can claw back points on you in the league. We want to play all the time at the moment and it was really disappointing to have the Hibs game called off.
“We knew coming into this league that we had a good squad and we could do well. Winning League One at the tail end of last season means that we carried that winning mentality through into this season.
“We’re not in this division just to make up the numbers and give a good account of ourselves, we’re here to compete, and I think that’s showed.”
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