Rangers boss Mark Warburton plays down mind games with Alan Stubbs

Mark Warburton is unconcerned at recent comments made by Alan Stubbs, manager of title rivals Hibernian, who believes his own team's excellent spell of form has had a damaging effect on Rangers.

The teams meet at Ibrox next Monday, with only goal difference separating leaders Rangers from Hibs.

Following a mediocre start to the season, Hibs are unbeaten in 14 league matches and have dramatically closed the gap on the Light Blues who began the season with 11 straight victories in the Scottish Championship.

Rangers have won just two of their last six league games that include a 2-1 defeat at Easter Road.

Stubbs says the Edinburgh club's fine run of results have put pressure on the Gers, causing them to slip up in recent matches.

He also quipped that Rangers are in denial over their lost league points since the start of November but manager Warburton was having none of it.

He said: "I am not even going to refer to other people. How they see Rangers is their prerogative, their choice. It's a democratic world we live in and they can say what they want.

"Irritation is not having bought the wife's Christmas present yet. That's a crisis in my books. I'll have that resolved this afternoon though.

Irritation is not having bought the wife's Christmas present yet. That's a crisis in my books.

"It's about what I say here about Rangers that is important to us. So as for people's comments, say what you've got to say. It's a free world."

As for his own club's form, he added: "We had a bad 15 minutes at Falkirk and we have to improve in certain areas.

"If a club like Rangers drops a point you're disappointed. We have to learn from it.

"I worked for an owner at my last club Brentford, a very, very smart individual, and he spoke about the random nature of football such as the ball dropping to a centre-forward or the defender. Stuff you can't predict.

"Sometimes results don't really reflect the true performance. We know there have been games we've dominated but not taken all three points.

"We know what we have to do to get the points and the rewards but we're not overly concerned because we know the performance levels have been decent.

"Nothing will be won or lost long-term on Monday. It's the next three points. It will be a tough challenge. We're facing an opponent on form but it will be packed Ibrox with an expectant crowd behind us. We're looking forward to it."