AT no stage since Rangers dropped down to the bottom tier of Scottish football have they ever looked comfortable on artificial surfaces.

Yes, the Glasgow club has recorded victories on the numerous plastic pitches they have played on in the lower leagues.

At times in the last three years, they have won convincingly on the synthetic turf that many clubs now favour.

But, even on those isolated occasions, the conditions underfoot have always favoured their rivals greatly.

It is no coincidence, then, that Rangers players like Lewis Macleod and David Templeton have sustained injuries trying to adapt.

Some of the Ibrox club's most humiliating results have, too, been at venues like Galabank, Palmerston Park and Recreation Park.

However, if Rangers are to complete "The Journey" they will have to excel on the 5G surface down in Dumfries.

Stuart McCall's side will somehow have to, between now and Saturday evening, devise a game plan that works.

That is, given how poorly they have performed against Queen of the South away from home this season, a big ask.

Rangers produced arguably their worst performance of the entire 2014/15 campaign at Palmerston back in December.

Goals from Kevin Holt and Gavin Reilly ensured a deserved 2-0 victory for James Fowler's side on that occasion.

The visitors, whose slight hopes of catching Hearts at the top of the table ended, were dire and did not even manage a shot on target.

Yet, it had emerged that Ally McCoist had resigned just hours before kick-off. It was, then, hardly ideal preparation.

Hopes were high that a side revitalised by the arrival of McCall would atone for that loss when they returned last month.

What happened? They slumped to an even heavier 3-0 defeat - the first their interim manager had suffered - to remain in third place.

McCall, though, insists his side will have no fears returning to the scene of those reverses in the first leg of the Premiership play-off quarter-final.

"We'll train this week, put a plan in position and won't go down there with any negative thoughts," he said. "There will be no psychological effect going down there, that's for sure.

"We are going in against a good side, but we have some good players who can create opportunities and we'll be confident over the two legs of progressing."

McCall added: "Having said that, I'm sure, Queen of the South will be, too. On the team bus coming back from Tynecastle on Saturday, I was looking at the team they fielded against Livingston. They rested three or four players.

"But we have plenty of time to analyse them before this weekend. We will be organised and ready for what we know will be a tough game. I don't expect the tie to be over one way or another after Saturday's first game."

McCall is so comfortable with the prospect of returning to Palmerston he has no intention of training on an artificial pitch in the days ahead to prepare.

He said: "We did that the last time - and ended up losing 3-0. So it didn't exactly help us. Being superstitious, I think it's fair to say we won't be doing that this time around."

McCall's side has performed sufficiently well in big matches away from home since he took over back in March to give him hope they can triumph.

He was distraught at how Rangers threw away a two-goal lead in the final 10 minutes against Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday to draw 2-2.

But he was heartened by the way his charges performed in the capital on the day the Championship winners were presented with the trophy

He said: "It comes down to a little bit of self-belief in each other and ourselves as a group. When I first arrived, I said I wanted to restore a bit of confidence and that can only be done by the players performing better than they were - and in the majority of the games they've done that.

"We've under-performed in a few, I accept that, but I'm confident we have players and a squad that can get us promoted. I believe that and we will all work hard to get that achievement."

McCall continued: "There are plenty of positives to take from going to a place like Tynecastle and being in control for most of the game.

"Obviously, we were unhappy to only draw the match, but I told the players afterwards that I had been looking for a good, strong committed performance because Hearts are worthy champions.

"I got that from them and I was pleased. I thought they played very well in patches as well.

"Losing the two late goals was down to poor decision-making on our part. That has cost us, but we'll look at that and work on it.

"Overall, though, it was a performance that stands us in good stead for another very difficult game this Saturday.

"For us to get to where we want to be, we are going to have six tough games. We'll look forward to Saturday on the back of a strong, positive performance against a good side."

McCall dropped his captain Lee McCulloch, who had been poor in the 2-2 draw with Falkirk the week before, against Hearts.

The back line of Richard Foster, Darren McGregor, Marius Zaliukas and Lee Wallace performed well in his absence.

The goals were only conceded after Foster, who was exhausted after playing in his first game in nearly three months, was substituted and the rearguard changed.

Depending on availability, the same back four should take to the field down in Dumfries in a far more defensively-minded line-up than has been fielded previously this season.