Alan Stubbs is hoping to lead Hibs to a hat-trick of wins at Ibrox.
After finishing the Championship campaign in second place the Edinburgh side have had 18 days to prepare for tonight’s play-off first leg.
The winners will face Motherwell for a place in next season’s top flight giving Stubbs the chance to test his managerial ability against the best in the country.
When he arrived in Edinburgh last summer Stubbs inherited a shambles from Terry Butcher, a club shattered by the drop into the play-off’s and a home defeat from Hamilton Accies that sealed their demise.
With a fraction of the budget enjoyed by Ibrox managers Ally McCoist, Kenneth McDowall and Stuart McCall, Stubbs has stamped his impression on Hibs to turn the club around.
Three wins over Sevco, two at Ibrox and a 4-0 hammering at Easter Road have laid down a marker for tonight’s match but Stubbs believes that a 2-0 loss at Easter Road could be equally significant.
“I don’t think there was an overconfidence but it was good in a way because if we had won that game then I would have been a bit concerned that the players might just think they had to go out and turn up,” the Hibs boss said.
“That gave us food for thought. Rangers changed their style to play against us. They may or may not do that again but the most important thing is I believe in the players. I believe the players are good enough to come through these two games.”
Despite the two leg format of the play-off Stubbs has no plans to park the bus at Ibrox.
He added: “We’re not going to change now. We’ve tried to play on the front foot all season. The fact we’ve got two game to try and progress to the play-off final is not going to change us too much. I don’t think that will suit the players.
“We want to go there and get a result. It’s the same as I’ve said all season and it’s going to be no different from our point of view. It’s very difficult to ask a team to go into the away tie and try to come out of there with a draw or hang in there and get some sort of result to bring back. It’s much better if you go there and try to win.”
