KEVIN O’HARA has called on his Pars pals to believe and trust each other when they walk out to face Rangers tomorrow (Friday) evening.

Peter Grant’s side travel to Ibrox in the last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup smarting from a 3-0 defeat to Partick Thistle in their first home Championship match of the season on Saturday, which the 22-year-old forward admitted was “not acceptable”.

Steven Gerrard’s reigning Scottish champions suffered their third successive loss on Tuesday – a 2-1 home defeat to Malmö in the Champions League third qualifying round – but, with a capacity crowd expected in Govan, O’Hara admits it will still be a tough ask for the Pars.

However, speaking to Press Sport, the former Alloa Athletic man insists Dunfermline will head west looking to impose themselves on the tie – and not let the Jags defeat affect their confidence.

“We know how bad we performed and we went back into training on Monday and just tried to kick-on again and be ready for Friday,” he said.

“We didn’t expect to play like that. We had a really good start to the season, were looking good, and I just think on Saturday we were outfought with and without the ball. That’s not acceptable.

“I think it was just a really bad day at the office from everyone. It would be easy if you could put your finger on it, so we’ll need to watch the video back and see where we can improve.

“I know I keep saying, but on the training ground every day, we’re working on stuff and the way the manager wants to play. I think it’s quite obvious from the first couple of games the way he wants to play, and I think we did it well in most games. On Saturday, we were a bit slow in possession, and the way he wants to play, we can’t be like that.

“Rangers have been the best side in Scotland for the last year; it’s quite clear for everybody to see that. It’s going to be a really tough place to go, and a really hard game, but this week we’ll work on a gameplan on how to stop Rangers and how we can affect them going forward as well.”

O’Hara has turned out at Ibrox before – coming on as a late substitute for Falkirk in a league meeting in 2016 – and is joined by others, such as former Rangers player Graham Dorrans, who have experience of playing on that stage.

Although he believes their experience will help, he has urged the younger members of the squad to show that they are good enough to play there, and continued: “Experience will help but I think for even the boys who haven’t played there, they’re playing there because they’re good enough so they need to go and show that as well as everybody in the squad.

“As much as we’re going to have to defend really well, we’re going to have to attack when we get the chance and make sure we do it right.

“It’s a game of football at the end of the day. I know it’s going to be a really tough game but we’re going to have to try and put our style on the game as well and be brave and trust each other when we have the ball.

“That’s going to be the main thing, having the belief that, when we have the ball, we can hurt them as well.

“Obviously, Rangers are going to be massive favourites with the quality of squad they’ve got, and it being at Ibrox, but we just hope we can get our gameplan right and progress to the next round.

“You’re not going to get many bigger games in Scotland than playing at Ibrox with a full house. With the crowd being there I think that’s another reason we need to believe in ourselves, trust ourselves and be brave at a stadium like that. We need to take the ball in really tough areas and believe in what we’re trying to do. It’s not an easy one to play Rangers at Ibrox after Saturday, but it’s one the boys are really looking forward to.”