Ordinarily, a rearranged league fixture between Rangers and St Mirren on a gloomy Tuesday night at Love Street in early January would not entice the throngs, but in Rangers’ case, tonight’s match in Paisley has some relish about it. The Ibrox club have the first real scent of a championship win in their nostrils.

Victory for Rangers would put them four points clear of Celtic at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. It is not the size of the lead that is significant – indeed Walter Smith yesterday actually dismissed the gap as almost meaningless - but the fact that Rangers are truly back in contention. For Smith, it has been one long, hard and grafting 12 months.

“Everybody keeps going on about us being at the top of the league, but getting there at the halfway stage really doesn’t mean that much,” the Rangers manager said. “What it does do, obviously, is say that we are presenting a better challenge than last season, but that’s all it means. There are still three Old Firm games to go before the end of the season, so there could be plenty chopping and changing ahead.

“Everybody makes a big thing about us being top, and it obviously means we are doing well. But how do we know how well we will do from here? That’s the question that hangs over everybody. How will we handle it? How will the team handle it? That’s the challenge that is in front of us.”

Still, it is a nice position to find yourself in, especially as it is coming up for three years since Rangers last won a trophy. For a club as proud as Rangers, such a barren period is an offence, as Smith knew only too well when he returned to Ibrox for a second time.

In this vein, Smith recently recalled what he said to Alex McLeish when the then new Rangers manager first took the helm at Ibrox back in December 2001. McLeish had phoned Smith, by then at Everton, to ask what it was like to manage Rangers. “You’re not allowed to lose,” Smith told him. “Rule number one: losing isn’t allowed.” It was something that Paul Le Guen had overlooked when Smith, in January of last year, took over the reins once more of a Rangers team in freefall.

Alan Hutton will be missing tonight through suspension, as will Steven Naismith through injury, but Smith does celebrate the current form of a reborn Chris Burke in his Rangers side.

“Burke’s case has been quite simple,” Smith said. “At the start of the season we had a lot of players to look at and we wanted to make the team solid in the early part of the season. But then, as the season goes on and you see your team gaining in confidence, you can loosen things up a wee bit, and that gave Chris his opportunity. And he has done really well for us.”

Rangers have come off a good festive period in which wins over Heart of Midlothian, Motherwell, Hibernian and Dundee United, and a draw away at Aberdeen, have paved the way for their lead at the top of the league.

“Now we would only really want to make enforced changes to the team, in terms of formation or personnel,” Smith said. “In the last couple of games our possession has been good, and we are getting a bit more consistency about our play. It’s a natural thing – players gain in confidence.”

As Hutton is now suspended – perhaps even poised to leave Rangers – it will allow Smith to play Steven Whittaker in his best position at right back. “It is the one position I’ve hardly been able to see him play since he came here,” Smith said. “But Steven appreciates the form that Alan Hutton has been in – he knew that the opportunities to play there would be slim when he first came to us [from Hibernian].”

St Mirren, meanwhile, are buoyed by their 2-1 over Hibernian on Saturday, a feat that hoisted Gus McPherson’s team above Hearts into third-bottom spot. McPherson is surely going to keep his side in the Premier League, in defiance of one or two St Mirren fans who, somewhat laughably, had recently been calling for his sacking. It is a cry that Walter Smith has known about in the past.