WE MUST REPLICATE ‘FORTRESS IBROX’ ON ROAD

AFTER turning Ibrox into ‘a fortress’, Rangers winger Glenn Middleton is convinced head coach Steven Gerrard is ready to launch a genuine title challenge by sorting out the club’s poor away form, too. Wide man Middleton, 18, has made an impressive breakthrough under Gerrard as a rejuvenated side reached the group stages of the Europa League, while emerging as serious Premiership contenders. But although Rapid Vienna and league leaders Hearts were both swept aside to seal an excellent few days for the Govan men, their performances on the road have been far from the mark of champions. They have collected just two points from their four away games in the league, losing at Celtic and Livingston and drawing at Aberdeen and Motherwell. Convinced Rangers will soon turn that form around, Middleton said: ‘We’re working as hard as we can every single week. Teams are intimidated to come to Ibrox now, we’ve made it a bit of a fortress. ‘We come out of the tunnel and when we hear the fans are up for it, that gets us up for it as well. ‘Now all it takes is one (win) away from home and it’ll all click. ‘We have shown we can do it at home and now we need to do it away from home. ‘It’s wide open this season — Hearts have had a good start but we showed we can compete with them, we just need to be consistent with our performances. ‘We can bridge that gap, we have top quality players for every position, we’re all pushing for a start each game.’ Middleton now turns his attention to Scotland Under-21s duty as Scot Gemmill’s side seek the victories in Ukraine tomorrow and against England next week that could send them into a play-off for the European finals. ‘When this team performs to its capabilities it can compete with anyone,’ he said. ‘Scot will set us up with a game plan on Friday and then it’s up to us to carry that out. ‘We all know what we have to do but if we don’t score in the first half-hour we shouldn’t panic. We’ll get chances with the players we have in the team. ‘Scot has given me opportunities all the way up from Under-15s level and now hopefully if I get the chance I will perform for him.’