Murray aims to give visitors a history lesson
UNLIKELY as it may seem, Ross County have never beaten Rangers in the club’s 95-year history. But records are there to be broken, as Simon Murray will testify to after his double in Dingwall last month broke Hearts for only the third time in 41 meetings since the sides first locked horns in 1934.
The Ross County striker concedes that Rangers are likely to prove a tougher nut to crack when Philippe Clement oversees the latest installment of an engrossing Premiership title race. But the Belgian coach will have noted the need to shackle Murray on the evidence of the 32-year-old’s man-of-the-match performance against Hearts and the fact that he also scored in a 3-1 defeat at Ibrox the previous month.
Murray’s contribution to a 2-1 victory boosted his tally for the season to 17 in all competitions and highlighted his importance to the Staggies at the business end of the season as they bid to avoid becoming embroiled in another play-off for top-flight survival.
The Dundee-born player is also unique among his team-mates in that he has already scored several times against Rangers, including a 3-2 victory at Ibrox in August 2017 when he was wearing Hibs colours.
‘For all that I have suffered a few defeats against Rangers, I don’t remember any really heavy losses,’ he said. ‘Actually, I have a lot of positive memories of games against them when I scored in defeats.
‘In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever played badly against Rangers.’
The second-bottom Staggies have six games to save their season and Murray added: ‘A result against Rangers would provide a huge confidence boost all round.
‘It may just be another game at the end of the day, but these are the ones you want to play in and, if we go out and give our all and achieve a result, it would definitely bring greater positivity to the team.
‘They’ve got quality players all over the pitch who are dangerous and capable of hurting you. Even the right-back scores a lot of goals. But, at the same time, we have players capable of hurting the opposition so our aim will be to maybe create a bit of pressure, in the hope they’ll make mistakes we can punish.’