NICKY LAW has claimed the resurgence Rangers have enjoyed since Stuart McCall took over as manager is down to him abandoning the "long ball" tactics of his predecessors.

The Ibrox club has won five, drawn three and lost just one of the nine fixtures which McCall has taken charge of since succeeding Kenny McDowall last month.

That impressive run of results has increased the Light Blues prospects of finishing in second spot in the SPFL Championship enormously.

And it has given Gers supporters hope they can clinch promotion to the top flight via the Premiership play-offs.

However, Rangers have also been widely praised for the attractive football they have produced under the nine-in-a-row great.

And Law, who often cut a forlorn figure under Ally McCoist and McDowall, believes a less direct playing style has been instrumental in their revival.

The Englishman is the latest player to - in his case inadvertently - criticise McCoist after David Templeton's scathing assessment of the legendary striker's abilities as a coach earlier this month.

Law said: "It was difficult before. I wasn't enjoying it. We were not playing well as a team and I wasn't playing well personally. The games were tough. We weren't playing good football, it was long.

"I felt that not just myself, but the midfield was being bypassed quite a lot in games and we weren't really involved in the matches as much as we would like.

"We feel, as you have seen in the last five or six weeks, that we have got good players in midfield who want to play.

"We have played diamonds and things like that just to get people playing again. We have been playing good stuff again, which we knew we would.

"In the early part of the season there were spells where we did play some good stuff.

"But obviously there were more spells where we didn't and we were going too long maybe at times to big Jon Daly and people like that. It was always in the air.

"I just felt that at times we were getting missed out. But at times in the last few weeks it has been a lot better and we are playing to the team's strengths."

Law added: "I think everybody knows that we have got good players here. The signings were always people who had done well in the top league.

"The style of play has prob-ably changed a little bit, it has been tinkered with a little bit, since the manager has come in.

"I think he has obviously been playing with two smaller guys up front together so you can't really play the long ball.

"The emphasis has been on playing out from the back and through midfield and getting the ball wide and I think everybody has enjoyed it. Hopefully, as I say, we can continue that into the play-offs."

Law, who has been linked with a move to English Championship club Huddersfield in the past, has admitted his unhappiness nearly resulted in him leaving Rangers in the January transfer window.

But the 27-year-old, who will be in the starting line-up for his side's penultimate Championship match against Falkirk at Ibrox this afternoon, stressed he is now focused on winning promotion.

He said: "January was a time where the club was low and the playing staff was low.

"Speculation about me maybe came about on the back of the Celtic defeat.

"There were a few days where it was touch and go and I didn't know what was going to happen.

"But in the last few months it has changed. You don't want to leave a club of this size because it is a fantastic football club and as good as football club as realistically you are going to play for. Why would you ever want to leave it?

"Hopefully we can do the job now. It is in our own hands. We want to play with the clubs in the top league next season.

"It is why we signed. We are confident again now we can do that."

Former Motherwell star Law has been outspoken about the abuse the Rangers players take from their own supporters in the past if they are struggling

But he believes that having increased crowds and renewed backing at games will also aid their cause considerably in the weeks ahead.

He said: "We're as confident as we have been all season. A big part of that has been the manager.

"Even after drawing his first two games he was very positive. We are confident and looking forward to every game.

"The crowd are now behind us again after losing them for large parts of the season. Slowly but surely they are getting back onside, which is huge at such an important time."

Law could find himself up against his brother Josh in the Premiership play-off finals next month as his sibling is on the books at second-bottom top-flight side Motherwell. But the midfielder, who is currently living with his brother, stressed he is not thinking that far ahead with potential games against Queen of the South and Hibs coming up.

He said: "It would be difficult playing my brother and my old club as well.

"They were fantastic for me and I have a great affiliation with them. But it could be any one of three teams to face that side."