Rangers manager Ally McCoist hopes the international break won't halt his side's winning momentum after guiding them to their ninth successive victory in the Scottish Premier League.
The Ibrox club opened a nine-point gap at the top of the table with a 1-0 win over Hibernian thanks to a second-half strike from Kyle Lafferty.
Rangers are not in action again for a fortnight when they face St Mirren due to next week's European Championship qualifiers.
After his side's third win in eight days the Rangers boss said the enforced break came at a bad time for Rangers as they begin to build up a formidable head of steam at the top of the SPL.
"It's a disappointment as I wish we were playing next week, of that there is no doubt," McCoist said.
"In terms of our momentum it's been good so you obviously worry as we've got so many players going away.
"You wish them all the best as you want them all to do well but probably the most important thing from our point of view is that they come back safe and sound.
"It's a great two weeks having a break but it's a concerning time for management and coaches."
The win against Hibs saw Rangers open a formidable ten-point gap over rivals Celtic in the league although it could be cut to seven points if the Hoops, who have played two games less, defeat Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday.
But despite their lofty position McCoist, whose side have kept eight clean sheets in ten league games, said he was only concerned with continuing his side's unbeaten start to the season rather than looking over his shoulder at Celtic.
"Everyone is taking about gaps here and gaps there but from our point of view we just wanted to win the game against Hibs," the Rangers manager said.
"The three points was far more important than any gap. It's been a good week for us and there was another clean sheet again which really pleasing."
Against Hibs, Steven Whittaker blazed a first-half stoppage time penalty over the bar after Lafferty had been brought down by keeper Graham Stack. Whittaker had to wrestle the ball from Croatian striker Nikica Jelavic to take the kick but McCoist said he had no issues with players fighting to take penalties.
"I was very surprised that Nikica didn't get his way but to be fair to Steven he's pretty strong willed and he fancies himself in that position," the Rangers boss said.
"You don't score them all but I would have no problems with Steven going up for the next one. My problem would be if no one wanted to go up for the next one so as long as they're fighting over it I won't mind.
"I don't think you should have a designated penalty taker. I'm firmly of the belief that whoever fancies it should go up and take it because in my opinion if someone is not playing well and they are the designated penalty taker the pressure is on them to say no I don't fancy it'.
"That's the right thing to do but it's the hardest thing to do."
The result at Ibrox brought a four-match unbeaten run to an end for Hibs. But manager Colin Calderwood took the positives from defeat.
"That's our best performance in defeat. But you don't want to be a good performing losing team," the Hibs manager said.
"I think the experience of playing Rangers will stand them in good stead. A lot of the work that was done is a fairly good foundation for playing the rest of the teams.
"I think it is a good template to build on for us."
Source: AFP
