Foderingham says magic Murphy is the main reason for improvement

Wes Foderingham believes the attacking flair of Jamie Murphy has been the inspiration for Rangers’ vast improvement since returning from the winter break.

The Ibrox men have won seven of their eight matches – the only blip being a 2-1 defeat at home by Hibs.

They have closed the gap on Celtic at the top of the Premiership, with the chance to make it a six-point difference again tonight – for 24 hours at least – if they can beat St Johnstone at Mcdiarmid Park.

And goalkeeper Foderingham feels Murphy has been the spark that has really kicked Rangers on.

He said: “I think Jamie has made a big difference to us since he has come in.

“I have always liked Jamie as a player. I played against him a lot in League One and he was always fantastic.

“He is just a good player. He is just an all-round decent footballer. He has that ability to go past somebody with ease. He scored a few against me! I particularly remember one at Bramall Lane when he was playing for Sheffield United.

“He ran from the edge of the box in a counter attack and managed to dink me. He reminded me of that one when he joined!

“So when he scored that great goal on Saturday I wasn’t surprised. I knew he had that in his locker. He is a really, really good footballer.

“I think it helps he’s a Rangers man. You can see it with Doc [Greg Docherty] as well. You can see how much it means to him and the energy he brings to the side as well. “The new boys who have come in have done really well and we’re starting to gel and you can see the team looks a lot more comfortable.” Foderingham reckons Rangers are building momentum, but knows they have dropped silly points against sides they were expected to beat. He added: “We need to keep moving forward and build on what we did last season. We had a disappointing League Cup exit but we still have a chance of winning the Scottish Cup and we’re in decent league form.

“We just need to pick up as many wins as we can between now and the end of the season and see where it takes us.

“There are games we’ll look back on where we could have picked up more points. There’s no point in winning the big games and losing to so-called smaller teams.” Rangers have improved since St Johnstone won at Ibrox in December but Saints boss Tommy Wright remains confident ahead of tonight’s Premiership clash in Perth.

The Govan club used the January transfer window to bring in Brighton’s Jamie Murphy, Norwich’s Russell Martin, Nottingham Forest striker Jason Cummings and QPR midfielder Sean Goss on loan, while Greg Docherty was bought from Hamilton for a fee of more than £675,000.

Rangers’ 2-0 win over Hearts on Saturday means Graeme Murty’s side have lost just once in their last ten games. But following a goalless draw at Celtic Park in their previous outing, St Johnstone beat bottom side Ross County 2-0 on Saturday for their first home win in five months, which encourages Wright.

“They [Rangers] are in a different place at the minute,” he said.

“They have signed different players but the encouragement should be how well we have played in the last couple of games.”

Looking back to his side’s 3-1 win at Ibrox, Wright said: “That game was away back in December, but certainly there is nobody in this league that we are ever frightened of. We always go into games believing we can win and certainly that’s the case on Tuesday night.

“They are a big club, they can spend money. It is easy at a big club when you need to change things, you just go out and spend money and the proof will be in whether they can win the Scottish Cup, put pressure on Celtic, that’s the pressure Rangers are under.”

Matty Willock is set to return from illness and Saints’ other recent loan signing, George Williams, could start after shrugging off a knock to sit on the bench against County.

Full-back Richard Foster is out for the rest of the season after tearing a hamstring, Stefan Scougall has undergone ankle surgery and Brian Easton is on the road back from hernia surgery, while Keith Watson (ankle), David Mcmillan (hamstring) and Callum Hendry (groin/pelvis) also remain out.