Stephen Robinson says getting his players to believe in facts and not fantasy is the key to St Mirren toppling Rangers.
And the Buddies boss has even got the measuring tape out to dispel any myths the Ibrox pitch is much bigger than their own park in Paisley.
The top-six hunting Saints have conjured up some magic results against the Old Firm at home this season, dishing Celtic out their only domestic defeat so far back in September before Rangers rescued a late draw in November through a James Tavernier penalty.
Away from home it’s been a different story, with Rangers enjoying a comfortable 4-0 win the last time the two sides met in Govan in October.
Pressing hard and high all across the pitch has been the key to St Mirren’s impressive campaign to date. And Robinson has been drilling into his squad they can keep up their dynamic style of play by ensuring they know the Ibrox pitch isn’t drastically different to their own.
He told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “Some of our boys think the Ibrox pitch is bigger. It’s actually only a yard either side bigger. And it’s the same size at Celtic Park as it is at St Mirren Park.
“Sometimes you have things in your head. We try and take that out and preparation is about how well we can play on the day and knowing about the opposition.
“I studied the size of the pitch because as a player I used to get things in my head and think you can’t press the same way. They seem to have loads of room.
“My lad played for Motherwell against Rangers in an early season game and said it was the biggest pitch he’d ever played on.
“It’s not, it’s a yard either side. Sometimes you get something in your mind which negatively affects how you approach the game.
“It’s trying to take that away from the boys because it prevents them playing to their best. We deal in facts not fantasy.
“Honestly it was something I had in my head too, because it feels bigger as a manager as well!
“Sometimes you speak to players after games and they say it’s bigger too and they can’t press the same way.
“You have to put those myths out their head. We free their mind, give them the information early in the week and then come Saturday the team is the best prepared it can be to win.”
Even if the Saints can’t pick up a win against Rangers this afternoon, a top-six spot may still be secured with Livingston knowing they have to beat St Johnstone to have a slim chance of overtaking Robinson’s men in the final game before the split.
The St Mirren manager is nevertheless determined to steer his side to a rare win in Govan, insisting they have the self-belief and talent to pull off another shock result this season.
He said: “We’ve done nothing yet. We’ve achieved what we set out to achieve, which was to stay in this division, but we have higher goals we haven’t achieved yet.
“The atmosphere has been great this week, but the intensity and focus was also very high.
“We started working on Rangers on Monday, showing where we think we can expose them and their strengths.
“We go with no fear. We’ve beaten Celtic, Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen already this season. We’ve drawn with Rangers.
“We know if we play to the best of our ability - why can’t we get a result?
“We’ve challenged these boys to defy the odds, which they’ve done incredibly already this season. Why not do it again?
“We were winning against Rangers earlier this season until the last few minutes of the game too, so we don’t go there with any fear.
“Of course we go with lots of respect. They have talented players who can win a game in an instant. We have to be ten out of ten, for sure, but we know we can be.”
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