Davis ready for European test

A narrow 2-1 defeat over newly-promoted St Johnstone at the weekend was enough to send the Scottish champions into pole position and Davis insists the timing could not be better.

"It does help," he said. "For a while, we weren't getting the results we wanted in the league. The Old Firm game was the big one for us. In the game at the weekend, we probably didn't play as well as we were capable of but we got the right result and we are delighted to be back at the top."

Dan Petrescu's Unirea are something of an unknown quantity in Europe but Davis is confident Rangers will know exactly what they are up against come kick-off.

"It's always hard when you don't know that much about them," said the midfielder. "But the coaching staff and scouts have watched them on a few occasions and done their homework on them. We know they are a well-organised side. We will probably do a bit more analysis on them."

Boss Walter Smith stopped short of branding the clash at Ibrox a must-win game but, with both clubs sitting on a single point after two matches, he knows the outcome could make all the difference in determining who will progress from Group G.

"You want to win the games, especially the home games," he said.

"We had mixed emotions after the last game against Sevilla. We played very well in the game and it looked as though we were on the end of a very heavy defeat at the end of it.

"I was disappointed with the way we gave up goals in the last period of the match but the performance in the first hour of the game was very good.

"So we have to recreate that type of performance and hope it will be good enough to get us the win we want."