Davis backing Rangers to roar

Rangers FC midfielder Steven Davis believes that his side's best performances have come in Europe this season – but he just cannot work out why.

Goalless draws
The Ibrox outfit go into Tuesday's UEFA Champions League home encounter with FC Unirea Urziceni as strong favourites, despite some patchy form on the domestic scene. They may sit one point clear at the Scottish Premier League summit, but supporters became alarmed by a series of three goalless draws before a pair of wins in their most recent outings against Celtic FC and Saint Johnstone FC. And while one point from their meetings with VfB Stuttgart and Sevilla FC leaves them bottom of Group G, behind Unirea on goal difference, the Scottish titleholders were excellent for the last 30 minutes of their 1-1 draw in Germany and dominated much of their home game with Los Rojiblancos before collapsing to a 4-1 defeat late on.

'More to come'
"For a while, we weren't getting the right results in the league, but our recent victories against Celtic and St Johnstone changed that," said Davis. "We know there's a lot more to come from us this season. We haven't played to our best abilities and we don't know why that's the case. We have played some of our best football in Europe this season. It's hard to put your finger on why that's been. We haven't hit the heights by any means and we have to play better. I think we will need four points from our next two games against Unirea to have a chance to progress."

Unirea threat
The 24-year-old does not expect the Romanian champions to be pushovers, however, particularly since they too drew 1-1 with Stuttgart, at home on Matchday 2. "We know they are a well organised side; they have plenty of ability and we have seen enough footage of them to know they will be a good team," explained Davis. "This season, we have been punished for making mistakes in the Champions League and we have to cut that out."

Thrilling occasion
Walter Smith's charges will again be able to count on passionate backing from their supporters and former Aston Villa FC and Fulham FC man Davis is expecting another thrilling occasion at Ibrox. "These nights are great to play in and all the boys here look forward to it," he said. "We need to get as many Champions League games under our belt [as possible] and we know we can help ourselves do that with a win."