Walter Smith admits he will feel a "tinge of regret" when he stands in the Ibrox dug-out for the final time as manager on Tuesday night.
But the veteran boss insists the emotion of the occasion will not detract from the task of claiming all three points from Dundee United and taking another step towards retaining the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title. Smith steps down as manager at the end of the season and wants to go out on a high with a third successive championship.
He said: "Maybe there will be a little tinge of regret that it will be my last game. The most important thing is that we win. My own focus is the same as the players, on winning a championship. If we can do that, we will all be pleased at the end of the season."
Rangers remain one-point clear at the SPL summit, after rivals Celtic squandered the opportunity to grab the initiative in the title race when they suffered a shock defeat at Inverness last week.
Smith said: "It's a situation you would much rather have. Previously, we would much rather have been in Celtic's situation than in our own.
"Now that we've got that advantage, everybody takes a little bit of a lift from that. We have experienced disappointment over the period of time since I came back.
"We've lost the championship on the last day and we have managed to win two so our squad has experienced the ups and downs of trying to win a league championship.
"When they see an opportunity for them, we are hopeful they will manage to take it."
Full-back Steven Whittaker echoed the thoughts of his manager, saying: "That's all that we can ask for, that it's in our hands now.
"After the [Old Firm] draw at Ibrox, it went out of our hands and we knew that we just had to keep winning the games that were left and see what happened."
Source: PA
