GRAEME MURTY won’t look to stop Rangers fans dreaming of a dramatic Premiership title challenge this term.

But the Ibrox boss insists his side will remain realistic going into the final weeks of the campaign as they look to finish with a flourish in the league and Scottish Cup.

Rangers host Hearts this afternoon aiming to cut the gap to leaders Celtic ahead of their trip to Aberdeen tomorrow.

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Some supporters have started talking about a potential bid for the top flight silverware but Murty is only focusing on the immediate job in hand.

He said: “Let’s be realistic. We are still in the very early stages of a push toward the top of the table.

“We have been in this situation before and not managed to complete a run as we would have liked. So we have to make sure we just look at this group and getting it to the right level.

“If we are pushing towards the end of the season, it will be as a result of us concentrating solely on the next game. That’s not me decrying anything or telling people not to think about it. Think about it all you want.

“But, in-house, we will purely be considering the next game and making sure we have a positive end to the season.

“I have said to the players now that we don’t want to be sitting at the end of the season looking back on opportunities missed or points dropped. We want to actually go and accelerate into the end of the season.

“If we take some things we have been doing recently and enhance them and improve them, we will put ourselves in good shape.”

Rangers finished 39 points adrift last season as Celtic clinched a clean sweep of domestic honours and ended the campaign unbeaten in Old Firm action.

Read more: Graeme Murty hopes Rangers' perseverance and the fans' patience pays off at Ibrox​

The Gers have missed a series of chances to close the gap already this term but Murty isn’t focused on what Brendan Rodgers’ side do in the Premiership.

He said: “This isn’t our last chance to apply pressure on them – we can do that right up until it’s mathematically impossible for us to win the title.

“What we have to ensure is that we don’t worry about the end – what we need to be concerned with is taking care of our next step because if we worry about applying pressure and influencing other teams then we take the focus away from ourselves.

“We can’t afford to look outwith this group. [Celtic] will do whatever they’ll do but we need to have our own house in order.

“We’re moving in the right direction and getting closer to what I want it to look like. Some of our play has had people sitting up and taking notice for the right reasons.”

While Rangers head into the Hearts clash on the back of successive wins over Partick Thistle, Ayr and Hamilton, Celtic are looking to bounce back from their 3-0 loss to Zenit St Petersburg.

But Murty has played down the impact the Hoops’ Europa League exit could have on the closing weeks of the domestic campaign.

He said: “It’s giving me pause because I don’t want to focus on what their workload is or what their ambitions or what outside influences can do to them.

“They are going to achieve what they achieve. They’re going to play at the level they play at and amass as many points as they do.

“All we can do is make sure that, if the opportunity is there, we are close enough to be in contention. We want to be in contention in the competitions we are in.

“Celtic’s workload doesn’t impact upon me greatly. It’s just a factor they have to deal with. We’ll make sure we concentrate on this group.”