MOTHERWELL manager Stephen Robinson insists he is happy to put his fate in the hands of the untested Rohan Ferguson against Rangers at Fir Park tomorrow. With usual No 1 Mark Gillespie touch and go after the injury which forced him off against Aberdeen at Pittodrie, 21-year-old Ferguson is poised to make his first league start for the club in front of the TV cameras against Steven Gerrard’s side.

Should Gillespie fail to recover, Robinson insists he would have no issues in calling upon a youngster who racked up around 80 first team appearances at the club’s Lanarkshire rivals Airdrieonians.

“We’re hopeful that Mark is fit but I’ve got confidence in Rohan,” said Robinson. “He’s had game time out on loan and that’s what we do at this football club - we give young players chances so he might get a chance in a big game.

“It’s sink or swim, isn’t it?” he added. “But I think he’ll handle it no problem. He’s a good character and played a lot of games out on loan. We kept him this year as a number two because we think he’s progressing. He’s been fantastic in training and a great boy like all the younger ones at the club. We’re not frightened to give them the opportunity.”

Defeat at Pittodrie in midweek condemned the Fir Park side to a bottom-six position this season but the meeting with Rangers offers the last chance this season to take the scalp of one of Scotland’s big guns. The two meetings this season have ended in a 7-1 Rangers rout at Ibrox and a thrilling 3-3 draw at Fir Park.

It has been a remarkable turnaround since January and the feisty Robinson is in no mood to let the mentality drop.“It won’t drop or they won’t play!” said Robinson, who could also be without Carl McHugh with a neck problem. “It’s quite simple. Fans pay a lot of money to watch football. We owe it to them that every time we step on to the pitch we give everything – which I’m a million per cent confident happens every time our players step on the pitch.

“It was disappointing not to get into the top-six,” he added. “Our aim at the start of the season is to stay up simply with where we are as a football club. We have to stay in this division but aspirations are higher in the dressing room and in the coaching staff. It wasn’t quite to be but we have to make sure the season doesn’t fizzle out. We have to continue doing what we’re doing.

“We’ve changed what we’re doing in terms of our style of play and we’re doing some very good stuff, with a lot of energy and youth in the team and exciting to watch. Hopefully we can show people that on Sunday. We’ll go into the game without any fear and take the game to Rangers.”

Much attention at Fir Park is sure to coalesce around the figure of Jake Hastie. If, that is, he is playing. Once thought to have agreed a deal with the Ibrox side for next season, they now appear to have cooled their interest, with the player being linked with a move to Atlanta United or Aberdeen.“According to the press he had signed for Rangers three weeks ago, now he’s not,” said Robinson. “I’ll pay no attention to it whatsoever. He scored the other night but he’s a young boy so can he play three games in a week? We’ll have a look. My decision will be solely based on whether he’s going to win the game for Motherwell not whether he would’ve signed for somebody else or not.”