Gary Holt: Rangers are a different beast at Ibrox

Livingston left Rangers whimpering the last time they met but boss Gary Holt admits it will be a different beast waiting for them at Ibrox on Saturday.

The Lions shocked Steven Gerrard’s Light Blues back in September when Dolly Menga’s winner clinched them a 1-0 upset at the Tony Macaroni Arena.

Gerrard confessed his side could have played “for another 180 minutes and would not have looked like scoring” after watching them slump in West Lothian.

Livingston manager Gary Holt. Picture: SNS

But Holt expects to see Rangers bare their teeth back in Glasgow.

“The last game is done and dusted - it will have no relevance at all,” said Holt. “In Scottish football you get to play each other quite a bit, so you can’t focus on what you’ve done before.

“It can allow you to show the players where we did hurt them previously and where Rangers caused us problems.

“But we’re away from home this time and we have to go there and stand up to the test.

“At Ibrox, Rangers are scoring a lot of goals and they are certainly a different beast.”

Holt tasted success in Govan as a player and even netted in a 3-0 Kilmarnock win over Dick Advocaat’s big-spending Rangers line-up back in October 2000.

Now he wants his players to carve out their own moments to remember.

He said: “It will take a different kind of performance to last time, of course it will. We’ll have to be braver, we’ll have to stand up and be counted.

“There’s an atmosphere that the players need to relish. They should go out with a smile on their face and enjoy it. Not many players get to sample that platform.

“I’ve been to Ibrox as a player and won a few games. I actually scored there too - thought I’d drop that in! Suddenly you have a wee swagger, your chest puffs out.

“I want the boys to embrace the challenge and showcase their talents on the biggest stage. We’ll see who wants to do it.”

Allan McGregor will be the man Livi have to beat if they are to get a result and Holt is hoping his team can do better than Israel striker Tomer Hemed, who was foiled by the Scotland number one’s stunning late save at Hampden on Tuesday.

He said: “Allan has done that throughout his whole career.

“I will be delighted if we get in the areas that allow us to test him enough. That’s what we want to do.

“We’re not going there to be lambs to the slaughter. We want to implement our game plan, score goals and win the game. We’re not going there for a point... we’re going for three.”