Former Rangers defender Richard Foster is hoping for a home hangover when St Johnstone visit Ibrox tonight.
A couple of hours after Saints had finished off a 2-1 victory over Dundee on Sunday, the full-back’s old club were knocked out of the League Club in the dying minutes of their semi-final against Celtic.
And if there’s a negative after-effect of their Hampden heartbreak for Rangers in tonight’s Premiership clash, the Perth men won’t be complaining.
“I’m not going to lie,” Foster admitted. “I was hoping for extra-time yesterday.
“In terms of fatigue we’ll be the same as Rangers because we both played on Sunday.
“But they might be on a bit of a downer and an Old Firm semi-final will be mentally draining.
“There are so many highs and lows in games like that and they were close to getting to a final. They held out until something like the 84th minute.
“Mentally and physically they’ll have put a lot into the game and we’ll be hoping there’s a bit of a hangover on Wednesday.”
On Saints’ performance in their weekend derby match, Foster reflected: “I thought we played really well. It was incredibly one-sided.
“With the penalty late on, the last few minutes were a bit nervy. But if we hadn’t taken three points from that game it would have been a travesty because we were so dominant.
“We got into a lot of good areas and maybe could have been even more clinical to make it more comfortable. But it was a great team performance and sets us up nicely for our next game.”
Mark Warburton altered his usual game-plan to be a bit more defensive against Celtic but Foster expects a quick return to the Rangers manager’s preferred formation.
The ex-Aberdeen and Ross County man said: “They’re at home and are expected to win the game.
“They are very fluid when they play their normal formation and keep the ball very well. So I think they will change back.
“There might be a few personnel changes but it will probably be 4-3-3, which it has been for every game bar Sunday’s.”
St Johnstone’s tactics probably won’t come as a great surprise either.
“We need to try and disrupt them when they’re in possession,” Foster said.
“You have to try and flood the midfield and not let them make their forward passes.
“Obviously they have a lot of threats up front and coming from full-back, with Tavernier on one side and Wallace on the other.
“We’ll try and disrupt the flow of their game and not let them settle into a rhythm.
“Most importantly, you need to stay in the game and keep it tight for the first 25 minutes. The crowd will start to get more anxious.
“There’s a massive expectation on Rangers. They’re expected to win every home game and that won’t change on Wednesday. Their fans will be expecting a response to the Old Firm defeat.
“I know it was only 1-0 but when you lose to your biggest rivals it is never nice.
“The crowd will be expecting a reaction and so will we.”
The first quarter of the Premiership is completed tonight and, whatever the result at Ibrox, Foster believes it has been a successful opening set of fixtures for the McDiarmid Park men.
“We’ve got 17 points already,” he said. “If we maintained that we’d be sitting on 51 points at the split which would be a great return.
“We’re going into this game thinking that if we play the way we can, and the way we played against Dundee, we can get something from the game.
“Everyone in the team is willing to help out their mate. If I make a mistake, nine times out 10 Ando is there to mop it up. I try and do the same for him, and it’s the case all over the pitch.
“Sometimes people can end up in different positions but we keep our shape and make it difficult for teams to break us down.
“That’s been the hallmark of St Johnstone for the last four or five seasons.”
Foster added: “It’s all credit to the manager and the players who were here before me that we’ve been so consistent over the years.
“It’s been very easy for me to fit in.
“It’s great that we’re trying to keep on the coat-tails of these big clubs.
“There are clubs in this league who have much bigger budgets than we do. For St Johnstone to be up in third, fourth or fifth is a great achievement.”
Tommy Wright has no fresh injury worries tonight.
