BEST of the rest was the most Alex Rae felt Rangers could hope for when they started out this season. But now he feels Steven Gerrard’s side are well and truly in the running for a title which would be as momentous as any in the club’s illustrious history.

‘If they could win the title it would be up there with one of the most impressive things ever achieved at the club,” said Rae. “When you consider where Rangers were a year ago and the turnover of players, this would be as significant as any - without a doubt. It would have to be because they would be stopping Celtic getting eight, nine, 10 titles. There’s that aspect of it.

“I can’t really remember back to 1891 but if you look at the recent circumstances it would be a phenomenal achievement,” he added. “Celtic were dominating, scoring five goals against them in Old Firm matches so for them to be level right now is great. But it means nothing if Celtic go on and win the league. It’s important to keep that in context but the job done so far by Steven Gerrard has been impressive.”

Victory in the second Old Firm match of the season leaves the Ibrox side level on points with Celtic at the summit of the Ladbrokes Premiership table, albeit having played a game more. While adding experienced re-inforcements such as Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis to the mix can only help their cause, Rae feels that navigating a tough run of fixtures while Celtic have an ostensibly easier run could prove crucial.

“At the start of the season I didn’t think they had a realistic chance, but you are speculating at that point because you don’t know how good the players are, you don’t know half the players coming in,” said Rae. “They’ve got to embrace the confidence they got from beating Celtic. There’s no point winning the Old Firm and then losing at Killie and struggling at Livi. But I quite like the fact there is pressure on the Rangers players and it’s about how they react from that now. It’s impressive because I don;t think anyone would have foreseen that at the start of the season.”

All that comes after the rude awakening of a Scottish Cup fourth round tie at the ramshackle surroundings of Central Park. “It will be an absolute eye opener for them and I think the weather is supposed to be bad as well,” said Rae. “You just know the Cowdenbeath players will be going hell for leather at training and will put a few markers down. If it was me [as Cowdenbeath manager] I would probably train the night before on the pitch so the pitch was desperate, I would try everything to try to make it a leveller.”