Tommy Wright is happy for St Johnstone to take on the role of underdogs at Ibrox tonight.
But there will be nothing meek about his Perth side in their League Cup quarter-final against Rangers.
Fellow Premiership side Inverness Caledonian Thistle sat off Ally McCoist’s men when they were the visitors to Glasgow in an earlier round of the competition.
That won’t be the way Saints approach their tie though, Wright insisted.
“Rangers are favourites,” he said. “They are the team scoring plenty of goals while we are coming out of a bad wee run.
“No matter who they play, Rangers still tend to be favourites.
“I have watched them on a few occasions and sometimes they have played with a tempo and looked a top side. But at other times they haven’t.
“We have to go there and stamp our authority on the game and be as positive as we can.
“We have to take the game to them.
“It is a tough tie because they have a squad full of players experienced at the top level. But we won’t be intimidated going there.
“We have to make the most of an opportunity to reach another semi-final.”
This match being the second of three in six games for Saints, there may have been a temptation for Wright to tinker with his team for this evening’s match, with Motherwell on Friday night in mind.
That won’t be happening, though, Wright has pledged.
“I’m not going to let Friday’s game come into my thinking,” he pointed out. “I’m going to pick the best team, the one I think will win the game.
“That’s what I would have done last year and I see no reason to change the way I go about things.
“I always believe the next game is the most important and we have to win to reach another semi final. We aren’t going there for a draw.
“We have to win the game so I will be putting out the strongest possible team.”
Wright, whose only Ibrox doubt is ill midfielder David Wotherspoon, added: “They have won their leagues and they will want to do better in the cup competitions. I would imagine that is their motivation, same as us.
“Rangers have done pretty much everything asked of them in terms of winning titles but the last wee bit for them is trying to win a cup. So once the whistle goes I’m sure they won’t be thinking about what’s going on off the field.
“I don’t know what sort of crowd there will be for this one. But players enjoy playing in full stadiums anyway. It doesn’t intimidate them.
“Obviously we beat Aberdeen at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup semi final last season but all our experiences in the cups and one off games in recent years can help us going to Ibrox.
“We had a great run in both the cups last season and in Europe we beat Luzern this season. We have to use all that experience and bring it to the table.
“We have to play well. We won’t win there if we don’t play well. It’s that simple. That is why Saturday was encouraging.
“We looked a lot more solid away from home against a Partick team that had won their previous four games at Firhill.”
Wright believes there are several dangermen in the Rangers team.
“Boyd and Miller are still a force to be reckoned with,” he observed.
“Boydie was on one of those runs where nothing seemed to go right for him. Then he got a soft one against Raith and followed it up with a great header at Dumbarton.
“They are a threat. In the Championship I think they will get 40 goals between them this season.
“But they have other threats as well. MacLeod looks a very good player. Clark and Daly can come off the bench, so they have four really good strikers.”