Rangers buoyed up ahead of Cup replay

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GLASGOW, Feb 16, 2010 (AFP) - Walter Smith says his squad is in good shape as Rangers take on St Mirren in their Scottish Cup fifth round replay at Ibrox on Wednesday and have been boosted by the return of strikers and joint-top scorers Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller.

Both sides drew a blank just over a week ago as they attempted to make it through to the quarter-finals where a home game against Dundee United awaits.

Rangers' form has dipped slightly since the turn of the year following a six-game winning run in December as Smith's threadbare squad struggled to cope with a heavy fixture list.

Both Boyd and Miller showed they were back in form with a goal apiece in the 3-0 win over third-placed Hibernian on Sunday.

DaMarcus Beasley - who had his car set on fire in Glasgow last week - also made his comeback from a six-week layoff and Nacho Novo came off the bench as Smith had a full squad to pick from for the first time this season.

With the return of such key figures to the first team setup Smith is confident he has the players that could go on a winning run and fire the Ibrox club to a treble this season.

"The team's most consistent spell was in December when we had almost everybody fit," Smith said.

"But for the rest of the season we have been plagued by inconsistency. And that has crept in a bit again since January.

"We lost Beasley, Novo, Boyd and Miller all at once so that made it difficult to keep playing so well. But now we have everybody available again.

"The only problem is some of our boys have been out so long they will need a bit more match practice.

"Hopefully we won't be so badly affected by injury for the rest of the season.

"The boys deserve credit because they have hung in for wins and draws when we haven't played well.

"Now, with the fitness problems out the way, I'll be looking for us to finish with the consistency we showed in last year's run-in."

However, St Mirren striker Billy Mehmet believes the 'Buddies' could cause an upset if they don't concede an early goal.

"We've just to go there and play the way that we know we can," said the Irishman, whose goal in the previous round saw St Mirren book their date with Rangers.

"Hopefully we can cause an upset, but it's going to be a tough ask going to Ibrox with Rangers in form.

"The last three or four games I think apart from the last game we played in the cup we've conceded early goals.

"If we can shut them out early doors hopefully we can nick something."

Aberdeen take on Raith Rovers in their replay at Pittodrie on Tuesday.

The Dons were seconds away from exiting the competition before Gary Macdonald popped up five minutes into extra time to equalise and force the replay.

Raith Rovers will have to pick themselves up from a 4-0 thrashing inflicted at home by Terry Butcher's Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday which leaves them in the bottom half of the First Division table.

Mark McGhee's side will be boosted by their stunning comeback against Celtic on Sunday which saw them overturn a two-goal deficit to hold Celtic to a 4-4 draw.

On form striker Steven MacLean is expected to start after scoring three times in his last two games since joining on loan from Plymouth.

Fixtures (Kick-offs: 1945GMT)

Tuesday

Aberdeen v Raith Rovers

Wednesday

Rangers v St Mirren