It has been over eight years since Partick Thistle last visited Ibrox to take on Rangers, so long ago in fact that their current manager was actually playing.

Alan Archibald lined up at centre-half that day as a Damon Gray goal earned them a 1-1 draw and in the Scottish Cup.

Only two members of the current Thistle squad have played at Ibrox, goalkeeper Ryan Scully while on loan at Dunfermline and left-back Callum Booth, but Archibald says his men won’t be going there on a sightseeing tour.

While respecting Rangers, he doesn’t believe they possess the same quality that he came up against that night back in April 2008, and sees no reason why they shouldn’t believe they can get a result.

“I don’t think they are the same team they were then, but I don’t think you can take them lightly,” Archibald said.

“It’s no different from Hearts last year, they’ve come up and they’ve still got a strong side with a big budget.

“We’ll not change the gameplan totally because it’s not the Rangers from before, but on their day they will be as good as that.

“A few of the lads haven’t even played there. It shouldn’t just be that you want to go there to tick a box though, you want to go there and do well.

“You’re not there to take a selfie, you’re there to turn up, play well and hopefully get a result, that’s the be all and end all.

“We’re looking forward to it, it’s a good place to go and play. The surface will be good and it will be a good atmosphere, so hopefully that will bring the best out of the players. It should bring the best out of them."

An area where Archibald believes that his side can potentially get some joy is by hitting Rangers on the break in the space behind their full-backs.

It is well-documented how Mark Warburton likes James Tavernier and Lee Wallace to push on and join the attack, and Archibald thinks the pace in his side can exploit those gaps.

“We are aware that they push right up and we’ve got to try to exploit those weaknesses if there are any there,” he said.

“Going by their previous games, they’ve had 60 or 70% possession in a lot of the games, so they are going to have a lot of the ball. That won’t change because it’s Partick Thistle.

“We’ve got to have pace in our team, whether that’s from David Amoo or Ade Azeez or whoever, there will be pace in our team so that when we do get the chance we can go and hurt them.”

Archibald revealed that he has some injury concerns ahead of the Ibrox clash, but he has welcomed the return of captain Abdul Osman from suspension.

“There’s every chance that Abdul will still start,” he said.

“Going on the stats, Rangers will have a lot of the ball, so Abs will probably come in and be a defensive midfielder for us, I think that’s key.

“We’ve got three or four injuries hanging over players from last week, but we’re not as concerned as we were in the past because we’ve got four or five guys who can cover.

“Chris Erskine came off injured last week but he should be fine, Callum Booth only did part of training and Christie Elliot came in and done brilliantly covering for him last week.

“Stevie Lawless has picked up a stomach injury so he only trained today but hopefully he’ll be ok.”