McCall: We'll Be Ready For Well

Rangers boss Stuart McCall insists his tired troops will be ready to face Motherwell after surviving 180 minutes of gruelling action with Hibernian.

The Ibrox side will hope to end three years in the lower-league wilderness by edging out the Fir Park outfit over two legs in the Scottish Premiership play-off final.

But after four games in 14 days at the tail-end of an exhausting promotion push, the Light Blues look like they are running on fumes.

The Glasgow outfit were out on their feet by the time Jason Cummings struck in the 94th minute to give the Easter Road hosts a 1-0 second-leg semi-final win, with the 2-0 triumph secured at Ibrox on Wednesday enough to see Rangers through.

But McCall says his men will have time to recover before facing Well in another crucial Govan clash this week.

"The good thing is the first game isn't until Thursday," he said. "The lads have just heard two words they've not heard for months - 'day off'.

"They won't be in tomorrow and even they are surprised at that.

"But Murray Park has fantastic facilities. They will get massaged, they will get looked after and will be ready to go on Thursday.

"They have got all June to be tired. We're not celebrating now, we're too tired to celebrate. We've done nothing yet, we've just given ourselves an opportunity."

McCall will make his return to Fir Park for the second leg on Sunday, seven months after quitting as Motherwell boss.

The Gers manager admits facing his old side is a "nightmare scenario" but is determined not to let his emotional dilemma divert focus away from the task of leading his side back to the top flight.

He said: "I was absolutely gutted when they finished 11th, if I'm being honest. When Ian (Baraclough) brought seven or eight players in back in January, I thought they would be nowhere near 11th.

"But I haven't given it a second thought since then. It's not about me - it's about the players.

"There was no favourites between us and Queen of the South and it proved that way with the tight scoreline. It was exactly the same with us and Hibs and it will be the same with Motherwell.

"We just need to make sure the lads are ready for two huge games for the club."

Hibs lunged at Rangers like a starving animal but despite their frantic start and the visitors' cautious approach, they could not find the breakthrough.

Dominique Malonga had two great chances after the break but volleyed the first wide before Cammy Bell pushed away the second.

Referee John Beaton signalled five minutes of additional time at the end of the 90 but while Cummings netted with his curling strike, it was too little, too late.

Defeat means Hibs face another 12 months locked out of the Premiership but boss Alan Stubbs is adamant his team can bounce back by winning the Championship next term.

He said: "It always tough when you don't progress. I don't think anybody could have argued if it had been us going through.

"I didn't think there was an awful lot between the teams. We just needed to score a bit earlier than we did.

"I thought the referee allowed them to take all the time in the world. It took 75 minutes before he cautioned a player for wasting time.

"These are just little things but they all add up. If I was in Rangers' boots I'd have been taking my time but I thought the referee could have done something about it a lot earlier.

"However, for the amount of possession we had, Rangers defended well. I would have just liked to have scored a bit earlier and tested their resolve even more.

"I honestly feel if we can keep the team together, we'll go up automatically next year. You know me, I'm not one for making predictions, I don't believe in them, (but) I honestly believe we'll go up next year.

"I think the team's good enough, I want to try to take all these play-off games out of the equation and do it the way Hearts have done it this year."