Smith keeps SPL focus for Rangers

Walter Smith is determined to ensure Rangers’ Clydesdale Bank Premier League title challenge does not suffer as a result of their involvement in the UEFA Cup.

The Ibrox side travel to Athens this week hoping to book a place in the last 16 of the tournament with a win over Panathinaikos.

The Greeks managed to hold Rangers to a drab goalless draw in Glasgow in the first leg and Smith was relieved to see his team back on form to earn a 2-0 win over Kilmarnock in the SPL on Sunday.

He freely admits Rangers struggled to cope with the demands of both domestic competition and the Champions League earlier in the campaign but hopes any further involvement in the UEFA Cup does not yield a similar scenario.

Rangers sit four points clear of Celtic at the summit and Smith said: “The SPL is just a matter of keeping winning.

“That’s the biggest thing. Sometimes when we have the European games in midweek it kind of interferes with that.

“There is no doubt it did so earlier in the season but on Sunday we managed to get over that and get the win that we wanted.”

Carlos Cuellar opened the scoring at Rugby Park, before Kris Boyd netted yet again against his former club from the penalty spot to wrap up the points.

Kilmarnock sit second bottom of the table following a string of poor results and Smith was disappointed not to kill off the game sooner.

He said: “I felt we started the game fairly well and when we scored it took a little bit of pressure off us but we should have added to that before half-time.

“We are a little bit disappointed about that and it always leads to a bit of pressure.

“When we got the penalty in the second half that pressure eased a little bit.

“We had to defend well over the period, Kilmarnock were pushing players forward at times, and I thought we handled that part of the game very well.

“Allan McGregor had very few straightforward shots to save, although his handling in terms of crosses and things like that was a vital aspect for us.

“I’m obviously delighted to get the three points.”

Celtic’s win over Hearts on Saturday allowed them to slash Rangers’ lead to a single point ahead of the trip to Ayrshire and Boyd was thrilled to respond to the pressure with another victory.

He said: “With Celtic winning on Saturday it put the pressure back on us because we’d been playing before them in the previous weekends.

“But at the end of the day we got all three points and that’s what we came down here to get.”

The striker made it nine goals in nine games against Kilmarnock since winning his move to Ibrox in January 2006 but backed his old team to haul themselves clear of the drop zone in the coming weeks.

He said: “I’ve scored a few against them but I’m sure they will climb the table shortly and hopefully be back challenging to get into the top six.

“Billy Brown and Jim Jefferies have done a terrific job and I’m sure they will carry that on.”