Rangers fixture pile-up does not faze Davis

Steven DAVIS insists he has no fears about a potentially crippling fixture backlog hampering Rangers' push for the title - at least for the time being.

The Scottish champions were set to face St Johnstone in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League last night only for the game to fall victim to the weather conditions in Perth.

The postponement denied Walter Smith's men the opportunity to build on their impressive 4-1 win at Motherwell on Boxing Day as they prepare to face rivals Celtic in Sunday's Old Firm derby. Rangers have also had games against Hearts, St Mirren and Dundee United called off in recent weeks but Davis claims he has no real concerns about a backlog just yet.

"Not really at this stage," he said. "We don't know yet when the games will be re-arranged and we also have European games after the new year as well. It's all to look forward to.

"Players would rather be playing games than training anyway but it will still be a big ask with the amount of fixtures that we have. In many ways, a couple of weeks ago, the postponements gave us a little chance to regroup and get a couple of people back into training.

"Kyle Lafferty is back now and Maurice Edu isn't too far away. You have to take the positives from a bad situation. However, we would rather have had the games on because the last thing we need is a backlog of fixtures come the second half of the season."