No fear of going to Ibrox for Anderson as Queen of the South are flying high

QUEEN of the South winger Grant Anderson believes the fear factor around Ibrox may have diminished in recent years but warned that Rangers on their day still have the firepower to embarrass most opponents. The sides meet at Ibrox on Tuesday night in the Betfred Cup, with Anderson believing Queens have the capacity to cause a shock and reach the semi-finals. But the 30-year-old knows that will also depend on which Rangers side turns up on the night.

“It’s another away tie and it is going to be really hard but, with the start to the season we’ve had, we’ll be going there full of confidence,” he said. “There’s no point in going to Ibrox and not being confident. People have been saying that Rangers are vulnerable defensively for the last three years and I’ve had a couple of results at Ibrox. However, I’ve also suffered a few doings, so it’s just about what happens on the night.

“People go on about Rangers’ defence but they’re good going forward, so we’ll just need to take it as it comes and do our best. I wasn’t playing against them at that time [prior to 2012] but I can imagine that the fear factor then would have been the same at Ibrox as it was at Parkhead.

“You’d worry that you could lose by five, six or seven goals and it’s not the same now. But you still need to be wary because they are a strong team and they have good players. If we’re not on our toes and they all decide to turn up on the day then we could be on the end of a drubbing. So teams will go there now with more confidence than they used to, but you still need to be on your game.

“Obviously, we’ll need to keep it tight at the back because they have players who can unlock defences but we think we can nick a result but to do that, we’ll need to score goals.”

Queens have been bolstered this season by the return of striker Stephen Dobbie. “He’s been a brilliant signing. The things he’s done during games and the things I watch him do every day at training are excellent. There’s just a wee drop of the shoulder and his shooting is so accurate that, nine times out of 10, he’s on target, so you’re just looking for one of those to go in. I don’t know what the reasons behind Stephen coming back from England were but he could easily still play at a higher level – he could walk into most teams in the English Championship.”