Rangers cannot forget what got them back into title race - Steven Smith
Rangers coach Steven Smith has urged players to remember the hard work it took to cut the gap at the top of the William Hill Premiership.
The Light Blues drew themselves within three points of leaders Hearts - who visit Ibrox next week - after a 5-1 win over Kilmarnock on Wednesday.
The victory continued the impressive progress made since Danny Rohl took over as head coach.
"So far it's been excellent," Smith said. "The results, from where we were to where we are now, have been really good.
"Performances, we know it's not perfect, but in terms of results and putting us back in a really good position, the results have been really important.
"You can feel that there's an energy in the group, that they know they've put themselves in a really good position.
"But one thing we need to do is remember how we got there. We got there through a lot of hard work, taking it game by game.
"It's OK for everybody else to get carried away and everybody else to speculate what might happen, but we as a group have always got to remember how we've put ourselves in this position."
Rangers were 13 points adrift of Hearts in sixth place when Rohl was appointed on October 20. They have also overturned an eight-point deficit on Celtic and now lead their city rivals by three points, albeit the champions have a game in hand.
Smith, who oversaw a 2-2 Ibrox draw with Dundee United as caretaker manager following the sacking of Russell Martin, said: "When I sat here in October, I think I did say that things can change quickly.
"If somebody said you could get to this point where you put yourself in a position where you're three points behind, I probably would have said no.
"But I did know at that point and I did believe in the group that if momentum started to change, that it could change quickly, and that's what's happened."
Smith feels Rohl has brought a number of strengths to the fore to turn Rangers' league season around.
"His work ethic is one of the main reasons," the former Rangers left-back said.
"How he analyses opponents, how he analyses our performance, whether that's training or games, attention to detail. How he's handled the media, because it's not been an easy start.
"When you have to go double game weeks every week, basically since he's come into the job, and you're sitting down pre-match, post-match, every single week, that's a big aspect of the job and I think he's handled all those things really well."
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