Kyle McAllister hopeful St Mirren can score another shock win over Rangers
Kyle McAllister admits Rangers have been on fire this season, but the St Mirren ace plans to douse their plans for an early title party.
The Buddies are the only team in Europe who have managed to topple Steven Gerrard’s red-hot Ibrox side after dumping them out of the Betfred Cup.
Now they are hoping to make it a unique Glasgow double and follow up their historic January win at Celtic Park with another rare victory in Govan.
That would wreck Gers’ hopes of clinching the title this weekend – which remains a possibility if the Light Blues claim all three points against Saints and Celtic slip up against Dundee United – and instead ignite St Mirren’s push for the top six.
Victory at Ibrox will seal a place in the top half of the table for Jim Goodwin’s team with a game to spare.
McAllister said: “Rangers will obviously be looking to keep their unbeaten league run so they will probably be on flames, just like they have been in Europe.
“I mean they have kind of been unstoppable, but I don’t think we were scared of them.
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“You always want to play against the best teams and the best players, so for us this is just another chance to show what we can do and hopefully get a result against them, even if it’s just a point.
“Look at Rangers, even in Europe, they’ve looked the part.
“They have been doing very well but we can say we’ve beaten this Rangers team that has been getting all these results against top sides. So that definitely gives us confidence going to Ibrox.
“There’s not many teams who can say they’ve beaten Rangers and Celtic in a season. We could maybe do it twice if we can get a result against Rangers on Saturday.
“But, for us, we just look forward to every game in the same way. No team is different for us. We’ll just aim to play the same way and see how it goes.
“Most teams will sit back against Celtic and Rangers. But when we went to Parkhead we played on the front foot and look what happened.
“If we do that again on Saturday then you never know what can happen.”
Saints stunned Gers back in December as Conor McCarthy’s stoppage-time winner brought the Light Blues’ 27-game unbeaten run to a halt.
But Goodwin’s team were unable to capitalise on that shock triumph as they lost to Livingston in the Hampden semi-final.
It was a bitter blow for the Paisley public but McAllister believes clinching the club’s highest league finish since 1985 would console the fans.
He said: “After the semi-final, the gaffer said there is nothing else for us to focus on than the league.
“The cup is gone so all we’re focusing on is the top six.
“Everybody has been up for it. It’s something the club has never done before (since the split was introduced).
“All you hear from the fans is ‘top six’ so hopefully we can accomplish that feat.”