STEVEN SMITH says Rangers will be giving Queen’s Park the utmost respect in their Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup tie on Sunday.
The Championship side knocked out the Light Blues at this stage of the competition 12 months ago.
While a lot of the players, and staff who played in that Ibrox defeat, have moved on, several of the current squad were involved.
Smith joined Head Coach Danny Röhl’s coaching staff in October and says he has been impressed with the impact the new gaffer has made.
Speaking to the media, he said: “It is fresh in the players’ minds and six or seven of them were here and involved in that game, starting or on the bench, last season.
“We won’t treat Queen’s Park lightly, we will treat them with the respect they deserve.
“We will prepare properly and the boys will be ready to go on Sunday.
“Danny has been excellent so far. The results from where we were, to where we are have been good.
“Performances are not perfect but we are back in a good position and the results have been important.
“Danny’s work ethic is superb, how he looks at opponents and our performance, be it in training and games. He has a great attention to detail too.
“We have a demanding support, but we are going to need them as they will play a big part. The message is everyone together and hopefully that’s what continues.
“You can feel there is an energy in the group. They have put themselves in a good position but one thing is we need to remember how we got here.
“It was a lot of hard work, taking it game by game, it is OK for everyone else to get carried away but we have to remember how we got here.
“In October, I said things could change quickly. I believed in the group, if momentum changed and that’s what has happened.”
Emmanuel Fernandez and Youssef Chermiti missed the 5-1 win over Kilmarnock last night and Smith says they will be checked over ahead of the clash with the Spiders.
The former left-back was impressed by Belgian Under-21 international Tuur Rommens’ debut, but he was quick to praise the impact made by Jayden Meghoma.
He added: “We will assess Youssef and Manny in the next 48 hours but we will take the advice from the medical team.
“Derek Cornelius is back on the grass and he is doing work with the rehab team and hopefully he will be back with the group soon.
“It is early days, but Tuur’s debut was probably as good as it gets. But Jayden Meghoma has been excellent.
“He is 19, he has played a lot of football, he has been consistent and the manager mentioned that we have competition for places and that is exactly what you want.
“We had a good January window, we have a freshness and one thing we want is competition. It puts pressure on people to perform as if they don’t, someone is waiting to come in.”
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