Peter Houston is on standby to offer Rangers counterpart Mark Warburton advice regarding how to deal with the gulf between their last Championship fixture and the Scottish Cup final.

The Falkirk manager had a similar problem to address a year ago when his team got to the cup final and although they were ultimately beaten by Premiership side Inverness Caledonian he believes they got their planning right.

“Last season we had three and a half weeks before the cup final and a lot of people wondered how we would manage that and would it take the sharpness and edge off our game,” he recalled.

“In actual fact Inverness were taking cramp in the second half because they had games right up to the cup final. Our preparation was right.”

He said he had yet to hear from Warburton seeking advice but laughed: “I am waiting on that call.”

He expects Rangers to do things in a bit more style given their superior resources, but believes the same principles apply.

“I’m sure he has some ideas of his own and they might be different from ours,” Houston added.

“We gave the players a week off and then went down to Swansea and had a couple of days down south. The season was finished for most teams here.

“They’ll be going to Miami or something like that. We spent ten hours on a bus.

“Sometimes you’re better out of the road, it was a good thing to get away for five or six days, training at a nice training ground, being looked after by good people there.

“We played Burnley on the way down and it brought us together and we could work away from home, tactically, defensively, we could do work without worrying about snappers being there.”