Gray eyes Rangers upset

Dec 12 2012 by George Johnston, East Kilbride News

Montrose midfielder David Gray believes his side can cause an upset when they host Division Three leaders Rangers on Saturday.

The Greenhills man, who played in the Gable Endies’ 4-1 defeat at Ibrox in September, believes the tiny Links Park will give them the chance to express themselves after they were left chasing the ball when the two sides met in Glasgow.

And, fresh from beating Rangers manager Ally McCoist’s All Star team at K-Park on Sunday, Gray is keen to get another one over on the Ibrox gaffer. He told the News: “It was a great wee day on Sunday. Playing against the Rangers manager was fun and I was happy to score as well so a similar result would do nicely on Saturday – if the game is on.

“There’s obviously been a few games off these past couple of weeks so we’ll just need to wait and see what happens.

“But if the game is on we fancy our chances of doing something.

“Given how we’ve been playing recently – we’ve not lost in our last six games – confidence is high and I don’t see any reason why we can’t do something on our own patch.

“Rangers won’t fancy coming to our small stadium, where the crowd is right on top of you.

“At Ibrox earlier in the season we were left chasing the ball a lot and on a big pitch like Ibrox that really tired us out but it’s a lot tighter at Links Park and it will be a totally different game to the one at Ibrox.

“I think we’ll see a lot more of the ball than we did last time. We’ll probably create a lot more chances as well so I’m really looking forward to the game.

“We know it will be tough, with the strength of squad Rangers will bring, but we’ve seen how well other teams have played against them at home so why can’t we do the same?”

The 24-year-old will be up bright and early on Saturday to make the near three-hour trip north for the match – which will kick-off at 12.30pm and is due to be shown live on ESPN – with fellow East Kilbridian and teammate Craig McLeish.

The duo travel together to each match with a number of players also based in the Central Belt and Gray hopes they’ll have reasons to be cheerful.

He added: “There’s a good group of us that head to the games together so there’s always some good banter.

“It’ll be an exciting day for all of us but we’ll be hoping for a good result so it doesn’t feel long too long a journey on the way home.”