Ross Perry: Festive season wins can put Rangers out of reach

Rangers defender Ross Perry has backed his side to use the festive period to pull away from the rest of the pack in the Scottish Third Division.

Victory over Annan in midweek allowed Rangers to move six points clear at the top of the table, before facing nearest rivals Elgin today. The match at Borough Briggs was initially set to take place last month but was postponed after it emerged Elgin had sold too many tickets for the fixture.

Now that the match is finally set to go ahead, Perry knows it is the ideal opportunity for Rangers to put some distance between themselves and everyone else.

"They are second in the league and they are second for a reason. They play good football and they win games so it's going to be a tough one," the 22-year-old centre-half said.

"It's a massive incentive for us if we can go there and win the game because there is going to be some real daylight between us."

Rangers were voted into Scottish football's bottom tier after being consigned to liquidation in the summer and losing their status as a Premier League club.

Ally McCoist's side initially struggled to adapt to life in their new surroundings – especially away from home – but Perry believes they are now back to their best.

Perry added: "We are in a rich vein of form and have won seven in a row. A run like that only breeds confidence.

"Especially with the away games, we seem to have got the hang of those so it's good.

"It was perhaps a learning curve at the start of the season.

"It took a bit of time to get used to it but it seems that we have done that now and hopefully we can continue against Elgin.

"At the start of the season it took a while to bed in but we know ourselves that we've got good players and, when the boys get used to each other, we will have no problems."

The defender made his comeback following hernia surgery as a substitute in Tuesday's 3-0 win over Annan and hopes he has done enough to earn a starting role this weekend.

He said: "The Annan game was four weeks to the day since I had my hernia operation and they say four weeks is the earliest you can get back.

"So I'm delighted with myself for getting back in that time."