Jim Duffy says that Morton’s players can’t be overwhelmed by the occasion as they travel to take on Rangers today.

Duffy is excited that his team has the chance to show what they can do in-front of a huge crowd at Ibrox, but is wary of the fact that so few of his players have played at the stadium.

He says that it is important that his players handle the atmosphere as well as the threat posed by Mark Warburton’s players.

He said: “I think there’s always a great deal of anticipation ahead of a visit to Ibrox and if you’re not excited about that then there’s something wrong with you.

“It’s the biggest game at our level and the players are looking forward to it and doing themselves justice.

“Probably less than half of my players have played at Ibrox before, and of those they’ve only probably played there once or twice, so it’s not a regular occurrence for the players.

“If you’re a footballer though you want to aspire to playing against the best players in the best stadiums. In our division, this is an opportunity to do exactly that, therefore you shouldn’t be shying away from it.

“I think anybody who says it isn’t the same going there now though has certainly never ran out at Ibrox and experienced the whistle blowing in front of 45,000 people singing and chanting.

“It’s not fear as such, but there’s excitement and an adrenaline rush. Rangers have got very good players, but the atmosphere and the volume from the stadium is terrific also.

“You don’t get that in too many places, and I mean across British football. If you look across all the leagues, there won’t be too many crowds that will be bigger than the one at Ibrox on Saturday.

“That tells you the level that you’re competing against.

“It’s alright saying in theory to players that they shouldn’t be discouraged if they make a mistake and try to get them to take the ball, but you’re only allowed the ball so much when you go to Ibrox and that’s been the case for a long, long time.

“Rangers dominate possession so when you get it you’ve got to try to be effective. You’ve got to express to the players that they must have that desire to get on the ball and not flinch if things go against them, but by the same token you have to be respectful of what Rangers have.

“The challenge is there for them and they must look to grasp it. It’s easy to say though, I can tell them not to let themselves down and go out and show people what they’re all about, but if Rangers have the ball it’s not easy to do that.

“We’ve got to stay in the game, stay tight and stay compact and keep our concentration levels up. We can’t let the occasion overwhelm us, we’ve got to use that as a springboard to show our own talents.

“The players might not get too many opportunities to do that, but it’s important that they grasp the opportunity when it comes.

“We’ll try to play our own game whenever we can.”

Morton’s own game has served them well this season, with the Championship new-boys sitting proudly in fourth position.

Whilst Duffy doesn’t believe their previous form will count for too much today, he says that the lessons they learned from the 4-0 humbling by Rangers at Cappielow earlier this season might.

He said: “I think it’s better to go in with a reasonable bit of form behind you as opposed to being in bad form, but I doubt it will make too much of a difference because it’s not as if Rangers are in poor form!

“It certainly helps the players to go into the game with that bit of confidence though, and they know that if they play to their best then they can certainly compete in the game.

“That’s what you want first and foremost, to not hand the game to Rangers. They’re good enough without us doing them any favours, so we want to compete at our best and going in with that winning mentality certainly helps.

“I wouldn’t say there was anything too positive we could take from that first game except the lesson that if you give Rangers time and space then they’ll pick you off.

“We’ll only know if the players have picked up and retained that information at the end of the game on Saturday, they’ve got to retain it in the heat of the match.”