THE PHRASE must-win is over-used in football but Alex Rae believes it's applicable to Pedro Caixinha and his Rangers side in Dingwall on Sunday.

Already five points off the pace in the Premiership after huge disappointments against Hibs and Hearts at Ibrox, Rangers cannot afford to slip any further behind with the season so young.

Sceptical supporters will quickly become an angry mob if Caixinha returns from the Highlands with anything less than a victory over Ross County.

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Rae believes Sunday could be a pivotal moment for Caixinha – one way or the other – as it could spark a run of success that the Portuguese manager badly needs.

He said: “A win is a must – especially after dropping five points at home – and anything less will simply add to the pressure.

“It’s going to be difficult up at Ross County due to the fact that Rangers didn’t beat them last year although his is a totally different squad of players.

“But the reality is the pressure of playing for Rangers is you need to win matches.

“They just need to settle down and get some wins under their belts to get their season up and running.

“I saw Ross County’s game last weekend and they did really well in the first half but not so well in the second half.

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“You just know it’s going to be a tricky game up there because it’s a tight pitch and it will be a battle much in the way the opening game at Motherwell was.

“It’s a case of rolling up the sleeves for these encounters but it’s a game that the Rangers supporters expect to win.

“It’s the last game before the international break and you do not want to go into that break on the back of a bad result because you have to wait two weeks to overturn that.”

Rae feels Rangers have been a bit unfortunate in their last two matches as Ryan Jack was wrongly sent off against Hibs and Caixinha’s men dominated Hearts but could not score.

He feels the key is to be more clinical and maintain the tempo they have been showing in the opening phases of matches.

Rae sad: “I was at the Hibs game and there is no two ways about it the sending off had a bearing on the result.

“However, Rangers don’t look like a team that’s going to take four or five off anyone.

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“If you look at the Hearts game they had one or two opportunities but they need to have more, especially at Ibrox.

“But they are going into a sequence of games where you would like to think they can get a run of results, with the greatest respect to the opponents.

“I saw them in the game at Sheffield, the Hibs game and the League Cup tie with Dunfermline and they really came out of the blocks quickly.

“So I think it’s a case of trying to maintain that intensity and over-run teams which would give them a lot more breathing space.

"The last thing they need is to lose any more ground.”