However, there were no signs that his players were already looking ahead to these crucial matches and they showed a great deal of character and determination to beat a Hibs side that recorded an impressive 2-1 victory over Motherwell last weekend.
The Gers’ manager elected to change his back-line against Tony Mowbray’s side by putting Zurab Khizanishvili in the heart of the Rangers defence alongside Jean-Alain Boumsong, with Gregory Vignal at left-back and Fernando Ricksen on the right.
Alex Rae and Stephen Hughes, who notched an impressive double against Livi, retained their positions in the centre of midfield but Nacho Novo moved to right wing so that Shota Arveladze could partner Dado Prso in attack.
Peter Lovenkrands received a warm welcome from the Rangers fans when he arrived on to the pitch for his pre-match warm up and he caused the Hibs defence a lot of problems on the left-wing with his pace.
Rangers started the match brightly and could have taken an early lead after when referee Kenny Clark awarded a free-kick on the left-wing following a poor tackle on the Dane.
Fernando Ricksen whipped in a dangerous cross but Dado Prso and Shota Arveladze were both unable to connect with the ball.
On 7 minutes Ricksen again created an excellent opportunity when he played a searching ball to Prso. The Croatian managed to neatly head the ball down to strike partner Arveladze but his shot was comfortably taken by Hibs keeper Simon Brown.
Rangers early pressure eventually paid off on 11 minutes. Vignal was fouled by Dean Shiels in Rangers’ half and the defender then took the free-kick and played a delightful ball to Prso who controlled the ball well on his chest.
The striker held the ball up well before playing an inch-perfect cross to Arveladze at the back post who nodded the ball into the net.
In what was a frantic opening to the match, Rangers then made it 2-0 when Prso scored his first goal of the season.
Ricksen was again at the heart of the action and produced a looping cross from the right which found Prso at the back post. The tall hit-man managed to get his head to the ball and neatly picked his spot beyond Brown.
Mowbray will have been disappointed, to say the least, with his team’s start but they had their first chance to claw a goal back when Stephen Glass hit an ambitious shot which sailed over Stefan Klos’ cross bar.
Gers’ midfielder Alex Rae then became the first player to go in referee Kenny Clark’s notebook on 21 minutes following a late tackle on Dean Shiels.
Gregory Vignal has showed in recent games that he not afraid to get himself in to attacking positions and on 23 minutes he found himself in the Hibs box and unleashed a ferocious shot which flew across the Hibs goal and out for a goal kick.
The Frenchman was clearly enjoying himself and on 25 minutes he produced an excellent cross for Prso but, on this occasion he was unable to find any power on his header and Brown fumbled the ball out for a corner.
On 30 minutes Hibs had an excellent opportunity to get back in to the match. Scott Brown played the ball over the head of Ricksen and Shiels left-foot shot was palmed around the post by Klos.
Brown then became the second man to receive a booking after a stupid kick on Peter Lovenkrands which enraged boss Mowbray in the Hibs’ dug-out.
On 36 minutes, Prso was again causing all sorts of problems for the Hibs defence. He picked the ball up 30 yards from goal and skipped by three challenges before unleashing a powerful left-foot drive which was cleared of the line by Hibs defender Gary Caldwell.
The first half-finished with the Gers leading but the Hibs players must have recieved stern talking to from their manager during the break as they came out in the second half with renewed purpose.
On 48 minutes, however, Nacho Novo was the first Gers player to recieve a caution for saying too much to referee Kenny Clark.
The Spaniard then had a chance to increase the Gers lead on 52 minutes when Ricksen crossed from the right and the Spaniard attempted an ambitious overhead kick which landed safely in the arms of Simon Brown.
At his stage, the match was flowing freely from end to end and on 56 minutes Hibs had an excellent chance after O’Connor split the Rangers defence with an inch-perfect pass. Guillaue Beuzelin latched on to the ball but his right foot shot was brilliantly saved by Klos.
Hibs were to rue the miss as Jean-Alain Boumsong increased Rangers lead on 58 minutes. Gregory Vignal crossed the ball from a corner kick and Boumsong rose majestically to nod the ball in to the back of the net.
The Rangers fans were delighted to see the Frenchman notch his first goal for the club and they were off their seats again on 64 minutes when Stephen Hughes made way Dragan Mladenovic to make his Ibrox debut.
Rangers continued to push forward for the final 20 minutes of the match but were unable to increase their lead. Alex McLeish decided to take off the impressive Dado Prso and put on Steven Thompson but the Scot was unable to get on the scoresheet.
Fernando Ricksen had a shot from 30 yards which was well saved by Brown before Alex Rae tried his luck with a stinging shot which hit the post with 8 minutes remaining.
Peter Lovenkrands then finished the match as a contest on 84 minutes when he lastched on to a Novo pass and fired a shot in to the roof of the net.
Hibs disappointing afternoon was compounded when substitute Jay Shields recieved his sides fourth booking for a foul on Boumsong in the second minute of injury time.
RANGERS (4-4-2): Klos, Ricksen, Boumsong, Arveladze, Rae, Prso (Thompson), Novo, Khizanishvili, Vignal(Vanoli), Lovenkrands, Hughes (Mladenovic)
Subs not used: Smith, Hutton, Adam, McCormack
Bookings: Rae
HIBERNIAN (4-4-2): Brown, Beuzelin, Brown, Caldwell, Glass (Shields), Murphy, O’Connor (Dobie), Riordan, Shiels (Morrow), Smith, Whittaker
Subs not used: Brown, Baillie, McManus, Nicol,
Booked: Brown, Shiels, Whittaker, Shields
Man of the Match: Dado Prso