BY IAIN COLLIN – @CCP_sport
Jon Routledge insists Dumbarton will put plenty of pressure on themselves against Rangers tonight – even though he knows no-one else will have high expectations for their Ibrox encounter.
The Sons have lost 10 of their last 13 fixtures and have won just once in almost four months as they prepare for this evening’s daunting trip to Govan.
Most will predict that Stevie Aitken’s part-timers will be swept aside by their hosts, who are seeking to put a three-point gap between themselves and title challengers Hibernian at the summit of the Championship.
Routledge, the former Wigan Athletic and Hamilton Accies midfielder, freely acknowledges the size of the task facing him and his team-mates in the rearranged fixture.
However, the 26-year-old is adamant they will not travel without hope of causing what would be a massive upset.
He said: “These are the games you want to play in. It’s a big game and hopefully we can go there and pull off a result. Rangers are flying but we’ll see what we can get out of the game.
“There’s no pressure on us from other people but we’ll put pressure on ourselves to play as well as we can and hopefully that will be enough for a positive result.
“No-one will expect us to do anything there. Rangers have been brilliant in the way they have attacked teams this season and they are playing the game the right way, so we know it’s going to be a very difficult game.
“But we can take confidence from the fact that they have dropped points to Hibs and Livingston recently, and we also pushed them hard when they beat us 2-1 at our place (in September).
“We are massive underdogs but we have to go there with the right attitude. There’s no point in going thinking we’ve got no chance.”
