Three is the magic number

A SETTLED squad has been one of the few welcome by-products of Rangers' penury. While Tony Mowbray continues to shuffle his pack with the alacrity of a Vegas card dealer, Walter Smith has been forced to rely on a much smaller core.

With Rangers ten points clear at the top of the league and looking forward to a Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final meeting with St Johnstone on Wednesday, the Rangers manager has every right to think it is he who is currently in possession of the winning hand.

The experience of key figures such as David Weir, Lee McCulloch and Allan McGregor has been key to Rangers' success this season, but it is the contributions of others which has helped sustain their momentum in recent weeks. Nacho Novo has treated the absence of Kris Boyd as a call to arms, while Steven Whittaker has also responded in kind over the past month.

After being switched to a midfield berth, 25-year-old Whittaker has performed admirably and weighed in with four goals in his last six games, including yesterday's against Falkirk. He believes Rangers have benefited from minimal disruption. "It's a similar squad to last year and we won the double last year and got beat in extra-time of the CIS Cup," he reflects. "It's a good squad, great quality and talent throughout. We weren't fazed about no new players coming in. We knew we had the bodies and the talent through what we achieved last year that we could do it again."

Smith agrees that a smaller squad has bred an impressive level of consistency. "Because we've not had much movement, in or out the club, it has maybe brought a bit of stability," said the Rangers manager. "We're still wide open to injuries and suspensions in the latter stages of the season because we don't have a big group of players to work with. They are handling everything well just now but it's never easy to gain success in the three trophies in the one season. We've got a smaller group so it will be a big test for us to do that."

As the Rangers manager lauded his side's "steadiness" this season it was hard not to reflect on the contribution of Whittaker. In many ways, the former Hibs man is the archetypal Smith player – totally reliable and endlessly adaptable. Goal-scoring has been a key part of Whittaker's game since switching to Ibrox in the summer of 2007. He scored five times in his first campaign, including the spectacular clincher against Sporting Lisbon which earned Rangers a place in the UEFA Cup semi-final. This season, he has billowed the rigging nine times.

"When I was in the youth team I played in midfield," he explains. "I then broke into the Hibs team at first as a midfielder but they tried me at full-back and I played there for the majority of the time. But I obviously got switched about on occasions. I'm enjoying playing midfield just now. It's always a great feeling to add goals to your game. I used to do that as a youngster and to have that back is good.

"Kris and Kenny (Miller] have been fantastic throughout the season and have been our main goal threats. But it's always great when goals can come from other areas and, with Kris being out, the boys have had to stand up and try and get the goals needed to win us matches. It was great to see Steve (Davis] get a goal (against St Mirren in the 2-0 midweek victory]. Steve has been fantastic all season and he has been champing at the bit to get a goal so hopefully they will continue to come."

Whittaker enters Wednesday's clash with St Johnstone in possession of an enviable league cup record. Should the Ibrox men overcome Derek McInnes' side in midweek, Whittaker will have reached his fourth consecutive league cup final. He already has two winners' medals after picking up the trophy in back-to-back seasons with Hibs in 2007 and Rangers in 2008. He is desperate to hoist the first trophy in a potential domestic treble.

"(Winning the league cup] can definitely give you a boost. Obviously it is the first one to come up for grabs and hopefully we can win that and push on and do a job in the league. Then, of course, we are still in the Scottish Cup, too. To win every cup domestically is the thing you would set out to do at the start of the season. To do it would be a dream for any player. People talk about the scenes when Rangers (teams in the past] won the treble, so to be the team that done it would be a great achievement."

The Perth side stand between Whittaker and a fourth final and it is not a match Rangers can afford to take lightly. The Ibrox side narrowly overcame them in October in Perth thanks to a Sasa Papac winner seven minutes from time, though they did beat them 3-0 at Ibrox in December. Derek McInnes' side have been impressive in their return to the top-flight this season and Whittaker knows Rangers face a difficult task. "Perth is always a hard place to go in the league, but with the game being at Hampden hopefully we will be able to do our stuff and progress to the final," he adds.