IT hasn’t quite been a case of one step forward and two back for Rangers this season and the positives continue to outweigh the negatives.

If there is to be silver lining, Steven Gerrard needs the balance to shift even further in his favour, though.

In recent weeks, victory over Celtic was followed by a defeat at Kilmarnock, while a win at Pittodrie was undone as two points were lost against St Johnstone on Saturday.

It leaves Rangers now eight points off the Premiership pace but where there is time, there is hope at Ibrox.

“We won’t be giving up,” Gerrard said as attentions turn to the trip to Hamilton on Sunday. “When there are points available we will fight for them all. We have Hamilton and Dundee in the week and the challenge is to take maximum points and see what happens elsewhere.

“You have that hope and a chance to get back into it. We won’t be using energy or losing focus worrying about anywhere else. I want the players to take last night’s feeling into the weekend and see if we can take maximum points and take it from there.”

Gerrard demanded a reaction from his players this week after their lacklustre showing against the Saints, and he was rewarded with an emphatic win against Kilmarnock.

The 5-0 scoreline didn’t flatter the Light Blues as they returned to a more familiar and acceptable level in terms of their performance and application. That must become the norm.

“The disappointing thing about St Johnstone was that it was in the head rather than in personnel or the amount of talent that was out there,” Gerrard said. “I think we went in there with complacency and thought we could just turn up. St Johnstone got out of the game what they wanted and we never. It was confusing last week because on Thursday we got a strong session out of the group.

“Maybe I got seduced by that to think everything would be fine but the level of performance wasn’t there.

“The best thing for me was that when I walked in the day after the St Johnstone game the players had already spoken among themselves and that’s a positive. A bigger problem is if they think it’s all fine and they are not hurt by the setbacks.

“After the break we went to Livingston after the Kilmarnock setback and looked really good. We went to the Aberdeen and put in a really strong performance. For me the players need to learn that we can’t have that reaction after a setback because the setbacks can be hurtful and damaging in terms of ambitions.”

After a weekend that saw Gerrard criticise his players for a lack of leadership, there were only positives in the analysis of the win against Steve Clarke’s side on Wednesday night.

This was much more like it from Rangers and Gerrard will expect those levels to be maintained now.

“It was an emphatic result and I was pleased with the performance,” he said. “The sending off helped us in terms of how emphatic it ended up, but at 11 v 11 we started the game with a better attitude and mentality and we had a hunger about us.

“We took the lead and looked as if we were going to build on that. The sending off happens and the game becomes more comfortable than it would have been but I’m pleased with the reaction from the weekend.

“I made it clear that I wasn’t happy with the performance against St Johnstone. For us to go to the next level we have to find more consistency. It seems as if we take four, five, six big steps forward and one step back.

“If we are to be successful in the short, medium or long-term then we have to eradicate the setbacks.”

The plaudits rightly went the way of Alfredo Morelos at Ibrox as he hit four goals to fire Rangers into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals.

His stunning showing was just one of many to admire, however.

Gerrard said: “Alfredo is certainly in top form. He’s posting really good numbers and has been consistent for us all the way through the season and he’s been sorely missed when he’s been missing through suspension.

“It was good to have him back on Wednesday night and it was certainly his night in terms of headlines but he got really good support and the quality into the box was fantastic.

“Daniel got three assists and Ryan Kent adding another number to his game with an assist. The midfielders were excellent as well, controlling the game and how we played.

“I really like the defenders as well by defending well and serving the ball to the players we should have on the ball. I was pleased with the subs who came on as well and I’m delighted to have the luxury to not have to call on Jermain Defoe because he’s fresh going into the weekend now.”