Murty talks down title challenge

GRAEME MURTY last night shut down talk of a Rangers title challenge by insisting his side can’t yet take second place for granted. Four straight wins in the Premiership for the first time in a year sees Murty’s men approach today’s home clash against St Johnstone with the chance of closing the gap on Celtic to just two points, albeit having played two games more. But the interim

manager believes supporters’ growing optimism that they can yet trouble Brendan Rodgers’ side over the course of a season must be tempered with a realisation of where Rangers are coming from. ‘Listen, it’s far, far too premature to be talking like that,’ he said. ‘Let’s just get our business taken care of because we know we need to elevate our level significantly if we are going to maintain second — never mind push on towards the top end. ‘We have to get better than we have been. We’ve won four games, which is a small step. It’s nothing to crow about. ‘We’ve achieved absolutely nothing so far. That’s exactly what I’ll be saying to the players — “please don’t take second place for granted”. We’ve got a lot of teams chasing us.’ After the game with the Perth side, Rangers face Kilmarnock and Motherwell ahead of a December 30 trip to Celtic Park. Murty is likely to be missing Kenny Miller for those key encounters with the striker expected to be out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury. Graham Dorrans’ three-month absence following ankle surgery was also confirmed yesterday. ‘Graham is really unfortunate and I feel for him,’ said Murty. ‘He’s had to have ankle surgery and that leads to him having an extended time out.’ As a consequence of the double-injury blow, Murty will consider recalling loan players like Andy Halliday in January. ‘Every member of the squad is under consideration to help us move forward,’ he said. ‘I won’t talk about individuals but all avenues are being explored.’