Hamilton head coach Brian Rice claims the real pressure is on teams fighting at the bottom of the league as he prepares to face a Rangers team reeling from their recent cup exit.

Gers boss Steven Gerrard admitted he needed time to think about where they were as a team after Saturday's William Hill Scottish Cup defeat by Hearts left them staring at the prospect of another season without a trophy.

Rangers are 12 points behind Ladbrokes Premiership leaders Celtic after a slump in domestic form since the winter break.

But Rice, whose team are two points above bottom club Hearts, said: "It must be great to be under pressure when you are second in the league and in the last 16 of the Europa League. It must be great pressure to be under.

"Pressure is where we are. That's pressure."

Rice rejected the suggestion it might be a good time to play Rangers with the home fans not happy with players.

"It's Ibrox we are going to," he said. "It doesn't matter when you go to Ibrox. We are Hamilton going to Ibrox.

"It doesn't matter Rangers' result on Saturday. Rangers are at home, they are still chasing the league, they have got to win every game.

"You have got to win every game as a Celtic and Rangers player or as manager. Every time we go there it's very, very difficult.

"Every game in this league is a big test for us. Only five days ago we were raving about Rangers' performance against Braga. So nothing has changed – Rangers are a fantastic team.

"Rangers had a poor result at the weekend but go back three days before that and everyone was raving about how well they played. And rightly so, they were fantastic.

"Going to Ibrox is a massive, massive task for us. We know that.

"But we have got to go there and try and get something out of the game."

Rice was without four forwards for Hamilton's previous game, a goalless draw against 10-man Motherwell, but hopes to have some firepower back. Mickel Miller, George Oakley, Steve Davies and Andy Dales have all been out in recent weeks.

"We are still down on numbers but we will hopefully have one or two for the bench," Rice said. "They have not got any game time in them and I won't know until after training.

"Some boys will need to play through the pain barrier and other boys will need to be on the bench through necessity."