Callum Davidson has challenged St Johnstone to replicate the performance they delivered in their last home game against Hearts as they prepare to host Rangers on Wednesday.

The Perth side recently defeated the third-placed Jambos 2-1 with an impressive display.

Although they subsequently suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Ross County last weekend, manager Davidson is hoping positive memories of their last game at McDiarmid Park will help inspire his relegation battlers when they face the defending champions.

“We take a lot of positives from the Hearts game,” he said.

“We managed to compete against the third-best team in the league and we’re going to have to do that again against Rangers.

“The main thing for me is to make sure the lads are confident and can play with a zest and enthusiasm. 

“You could see that against Hearts and we need to maintain that play and that commitment to the game.

“We’ll need to work extremely hard and we’ll need a bit of luck to get a result. We hope to take three points but it will be very tough.”

Saints looked to be in deep trouble when they lost 10 games in a row in all competitions through the winter, but they have now collected points from five of their last seven matches and are two points above relegation rivals Dundee, who have a game in hand.

Despite the defeat at County on Saturday, Davidson is confident his team are still heading in the right direction.

“Consistency is the big thing for us now,” he said.

“We’ve definitely turned the corner because we’re now scoring goals but there are certain things we can do better. I said to the players in January there are going to be a lot of ups and downs.

“We’ve got to make sure we don’t get too high when we win or too low when we lose because there’s always another game round the corner.”

Saints made Rangers work hard for their 2-1 victory on their last visit to Perth in September.

“We took the lead then conceded a penalty and they won it with a wonder goal by James Tavernier,” recalled Davidson.

“That seems a long time ago and there’s probably been a lot of changes in our team since then. They’ve also got a new manager so it’s going to be a different game.”