BARRY FERGUSON today vowed that Rangers have the strength of character and the self-belief to haul themselves back into the title race.

Last weekend's disastrous 2-1 defeat at Tynecastle coupled with a routine Parkhead victory by Celtic over Inverness has opened up a seven-point gap between the big two at the SPL summit.

Matters were made worse by the fact that the supposed Ibrox midfield dream team pairing of Ferguson and Portuguese playmaker Pedro Mendes were completely isolated in a Gers midfield that had the life choked out of it by Hearts.

But, ahead of tomorrow's visit of Hamilton, the Ibrox captain has no doubt his side are capable of bouncing back from their second defeat of the league season although he admitted Gers have given themselves little margin for error ahead of the second Old Firm encounter of the campaign on December 27 at Ibrox.

Fergie said: "It is a test of character for us now. We are seven points behind Celtic and we have now not given ourselves any room for error before the next Old Firm derby at Ibrox.

"So it is a case of rolling our sleeves up and getting on with it as this is no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We know the Hearts defeat wasn't good enough, but we believe we have the strength of character to come through this.

"We are just finished November and there is a long way to go. We lost our first match at Tynecastle last season and came back into it so we know we have it in us to respond."

But, as he surveyed the reasons behind the traumatic Tynecastle defeat, Ferguson was brutally blunt about the shortcomings that caused the Ibrox title crusade to suffer a highly damaging loss on the road.

Surprisingly outmuscled on set-pieces for both Hearts' goals and bereft of any cutting edge in a display that almost unbelievably yielded only one shot on goal, Rangers were strangely vulnerable at either end of the park.

Add to that the now increasingly obvious importance of long-term injury victim Kevin Thomson and Steven Davis - who will return for tomorrow's visit of Accies - in a ball-winning capacity to a midfield that has an abundance of passing skill but was short on steel.

Ferguson, though, has no doubt that when Gers return to Ibrox they must also come out of the starting blocks with far more venom than they displayed in that lethargic opening spell in Gorgie that saw them ship two goals in the opening 23 minutes.

The Rangers captain said: "What killed us was the start we made. You can't go to a place like Tynecastle and give two set-piece goals away inside the first 20 minutes or so and expect to take something.

"Although we came back into it strongly after the break we just gave ourselves too much to do. We had a lot of pressure but we didn't create much in terms of clear-cut opportunities and that was another disappointment.

"But we have Hamilton at Ibrox tomorrow and we must just focus on getting three points and then taking it one game at a time and trying to claw it back.

"From that point of view it is great to have a home game to come back to after the loss. We know what is required and everything in training has been geared to getting us back on track."

However, there is no getting away from the fact that both the Light Blues' defeats this season have come on the road.

In October, Gers suffered their first defeat at Love Street in over 21 years in a strangely shot-shy performance against St Mirren.

On top of this, damaging stalemates, again on the road, at Aberdeen and Motherwell - and a defensively woeful home draw with Dundee United - have meant that the Ibrox side's title-setting agenda defeat of Celtic at Parkhead in the first Old Firm derby of the campaign has been badly undermined.

Worse still, Walter Smith's side must now look over their shoulders at the spectre of a resurgent Jambos, who are just seven points - the same gap now existing between Gers and leaders Celtic - behind them.

But, while he conceded that the Light Blues had been disappointing in Gorgie and at Love Street - and under-achieving at Pittodrie and Fir Park - the Ibrox captain has no doubt his team can lift themselves when Billy Reid's Hamilton come calling tomorrow.

Ferguson said: "The Hearts defeat was painful, but the belief is still very much there that we can pull Celtic back.

"Tynecastle is never an easy place to go and other teams will drop points there, but we have to put that behind us and focus on tomorrow.

"We know it wasn't good enough and we know we have to lift ourselves and we have the belief that we can do that.

"Like I said, this is a test of character for us and we have to show that we are up for it. No one at Rangers is under- estimating Hamilton."