THE standard of the three surfaces that Rangers have played on in the last week cannot be used as a catch all excuse for the levels of their respective performances.
But they must - much like the injury crisis that has permeated their campaign - be taken into account as a mitigating factor on each occasion as Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and St Johnstone have been overcome.
Michael Beale labelled the pitches at Hampden and McDiarmid Park as 'cow fields' in the aftermath of the Scottish Cup win on Saturday evening. Earlier in the week, he spoke about why he would prefer not to play on plastic parks as he highlighted the advantages that Derek McInnes and his men have enjoyed this term.
This weekend, Rangers will return to the green, green grass of home at Ibrox. St Johnstone are the opposition once again and supporters will expect the margin of victory, and the manner in which it is achieved, to be far more comprehensive and comfortable than it was in Perth.
It was a largely turgid affair that was won by a rare moment of quality from Rangers. Malik Tillman showed vision to set Fashion Sakala free and the Zambian was unfortunate to see his strike come back off the post as the ball fell into the path of Borna Barisic and was rifled beyond Remi Matthews.
The second goal that would have made the remainder of the fixture less stressful and frantic never arrived and the danger was that St Johnstone would get one chance to capitalise, that a failure to kill the game off would come back to haunt Rangers. In the end, the nightmare scenario didn't play out.
It was a case of job done and game won. It wasn't one that supporters will remember fondly as a spectacle and captain James Tavernier admitted it wasn't much fun to take part in either as the underfoot conditions made it something of a slog against the Saints.
"You saw the pitch, it was obviously tough to play on," Tavernier said. "I thought we got our goal at the right time, just before half-time, and it was a matter of keeping their chances to a minimum and seeing out the game and seeing if we could create more chances.
"I thought we created two big chances and their keeper made important saves.
"You have to try to play on the pitch the best you can. You just have to assess the situation the best you can.
"You don’t want to be playing any square balls that can be cut out and you have to be careful with back passes.
"But we are professional and used to it. We are just happy that we got through to the next round."
That was the case at Hampden six days previously as Rangers once again overcame the conditions and the opposition to see off Aberdeen and book their place in the Viaplay Cup final.
The surface at the National Stadium was a national embarrassment and steps will be taken to rectify the situation before the Old Firm go head-to-head for the first silverware of the season next month.
Talk over pitches can often become a wearisome subject. Any surface is, after all, the same for both teams, but conditions are a leveller on some occasions and matches can be decided on mentality as much as technical ability.
The last three fixtures haven't allowed Rangers to be at their best as a physical toll has been taken on a squad that are finding ways to win in adversity right now. In the bigger picture, they haven't exactly showcased Scottish football either as TV audiences on Viaplay and Sky Sports have been served up low quality fare.
"I expected it because earlier in the season we played on it and it wasn’t the greatest," Tavernier said. "I expected it to cut up really bad, which it did.
"We can’t use that as an excuse we just need to be happy that we got the goal and the clean sheet.
"You look at Ross County and Motherwell and they’ve always got really good pitches to play on.
"County are a club so far north in a small stadium and they still manage to keep the surface really good.
"There shouldn’t be any excuses. All the pitches should be grass at the end of the day.
"It’s something that needs to be done to improve the Scottish game so it looks better from the outside.
"But, as I say, we just need to get on with it and try to play the game the best we can."
The exertions of the extra-time success over the Dons have been compounded against Kilmarnock and St Johnstone as Beale has had to ask the same tried and trusted players to dig deep time after time. The performances haven't been at the level expected, but the results have met the demand.
As a thank you, Beale has granted his squad a couple of days off to rest and recharge. The camaraderie within the group continues to shine through in these testing moments but time apart will be welcomed before preparations are stepped up for a long-awaited return to Ibrox.
The theory is that the home crowd will be treated to a slicker, more composed showing on a surface that is better suited to the kind of football that Beale wants his side to play. The prospect of new faces within the ranks is an intriguing and exciting one for supporters to consider.
"It has been a tough week," Tavernier said. "To go to extra-time at Hampden then play on astroturf and here and to see the wins out and get the wins we need is really important.
"It’s character building and we have seen good mentality from the squad. We are creating momentum, we need to have it and we need to sustain it now.
"Yeah, you have to find different ways to win games and we are showing different ways of winning them - which is really important. If we want to be successful going forward we need to keep it going.
"You try to do that the best you can. This week has been a hard one with the three pitches we played on.
"It feels like ages since we played at Ibrox, so we will try to play our style back at home next week and try to give the fans a real good show."
