STEVEN Smith knows all about the difficulty of playing for Rangers when the pressure is on. He was on the receiving end often enough as a squad member under first Ally McCoist then Stuart McCall as the Ibrox club missed out on promotion to the Premiership in 2014-15. Now Kilmarnock captain, he is hoping to raise the stress levels a further few notches for Mark Warburton's side as he returns to Govan as an opposition player this Saturday. Regardless of the in-fighting which continues in the boardroom, Kilmarnock have quietly racked up seven points from the last nine, culminating in a comprehensive victory on Wednesday night against Hearts.

“I know what it’s like to be a Rangers player when you’re under pressure – you need to be brave to be prepared to go and take the ball in that environment," said Smith. “Our game plan will be to go and keep things tight for 10-15 minutes and then, hopefully, the crowd turns on them – I’ve seen them do it when I was there. That’s when the pressure ramps up on them and it becomes harder for them to take possession and do something.

“That’s when you learn a lot about yourself and about the size of the club you’re playing for," he added. "The expectation levels are really high so, when the crowd are on your back and things aren’t going well, it says a lot about any player if they’re prepared to demand the ball and try to make something happen. Of course, they have some great players and I’m sure they’ll try and do that but we’re going there to try and win the game."

While Smith scored a fine clinching goal on Wednesday night himself, the club's main goal threat these days appears to be Souleymane Coulibaly, the eccentric 21-year-old Ivorian who has scored nine goals in 15 appearances this season, without a tap-in amongst them. The former Siena and Tottenham Hotspur attacker - who memorably beat Celtic's Dorus de Vries from all of 45 yards - has been one of the players of this campaign, and tying him up on a contract until the summer of 2019 already appears a shrewd piece of business by the Ayrshire side. As unorthodox as the player's skill set is, Smith feels he could be destined for great things. “He can go as far as he wants," said Smith. "I can imagine he’ll be quite frustrating for the manager at times because not everything he tries comes off but when you score with overhead kicks the way he does or ping one in from 30 or 40 yards then all bets are off!”