AFTER months of simmering tension, finally came the release. Hibernian and Rangers have sparred with each other all summer over the Ibrox club’s dogged, if ultimately unsuccessful, pursuit of Scott Allan. In a perverse way losing their best player still almost seemed like a moral victory for manager Alan Stubbs, with Allan heading to Celtic and not to Hibernian’s only real rivals in the race for the SPFL Championship title.

This week, the gloves came off. Stubbs’ comments on the club’s in-house TV channel that being Rangers manager was “very easy” for Mark Warburton given the funds he had to spend, were met with a swift counter from the Englishman. “I would suggest any manager without the facts keeps his mouth shut,” leaving none in any doubt as to just what Warburton thought of Stubbs’ remarks. It all boils the pot nicely ahead of the teams’ meeting at Ibrox on Sunday, as Hibs look to avenge their 6-2 defeat earlier in the season.

“Hopefully it will be a good game,” said Ally Dawson, the former Rangers defender, present at the Petrofac Training Cup draw that saw his old club paired at home with holders Livingston. “There’s been a lot made out of it over the last few days with one or two comments. The mind games, or whatever you want to call it, certainly adds a bit of spice.

“What goes through [Stubbs’] mind I’m not 100 percent sure. You try to upset something, gain some sort of insight, or look for a way to turn a result [the 6-2 loss] around. Maybe he was looking for something like that. The best one for these things was Fergie [Sir Alex Ferguson] down in England. Maybe Alan was looking at that and trying something along those lines to cause a distraction.”

Already this early in the season, Dawson thinks a Rangers win on Sunday could be significant. “It would be a big moment. If you look at Hearts’ start last year, they put a number of points between themselves and the rest of the league then sustained it. Hopefully that is what Rangers will be thinking about on Sunday. Mark Warburton wants good performances and points on the table and at the moment he’s getting the best of both worlds. Rangers might leak goals but they will score a lot as well.”

Rangers have never won the Petrofac Training Cup or any of its previous incarnations during their three years in the lower divisions and they will need to dispose of holders Livingston if they are to progress to the semi-finals this time around. Ben Gordon, who played in the Alloa Athletic team that knocked Rangers out last year, admits it will be tough for Livingston at Ibrox but is not without hope.

“I was lucky enough to beat them and that’s a good memory,” said the defender. “At 2-0 down against Rangers to come back and win 3-2 is something I’ll remember for a long time. We’ll see what happens this time. I’m with a different team now and I’ll be playing against a different Rangers team by the looks of it, so we’ll see what happens.”

Helping make the draw was Jim Jefferies. The former Hearts boss is now enjoying life away from the stresses of frontline management and pleased to see the start his former club have made to the campaign, with the Tynecastle side sitting top of the table with a 100 percent record.

“I can’t see Hearts not being in the top half,” said Jefferies. “In fact, I’d say minimum top four. There isn’t a great amount between the teams and I think they could even challenge Aberdeen for second place.”

That optimism was echoed by Steven Pressley, the former Hearts captain and now an ambassador for Ladbrokes. “Even before the start of the season I really believed that Hearts can go the distance,” he said. “There’s an energy and belief coming from the club that’s infectious. It’s about taking care of the other teams and Hearts have done that in their opening four games.

“Their title challenge will come from being consistent over the course of the campaign. Regardless of whether Celtic get through to the Champions League group stages, they’ll be pushed all the way.”