WALTER SMITH finally granted Kyle Lafferty his wish by playing him in his preferred role through the middle in the Old Firm clash.

Now the Northern Ireland internationalist is hoping he has done enough to retain his place in the Rangers attack for tomorrow afternoon's SPL clash with Kilmarnock at Ibrox.

Life at Rangers has been frustrating for the 21-year-old in many respects for a variety of reasons following his £3.5m move from Burnley in the summer.

Injuries have restricted his progress and ruled him out of contention at times when he felt he could be making an impact on the first team.

And when he was available, more often than not he was being played out of position on the left hand side of midfield.

Not that you would catch Lafferty complaining. The beanpole striker has always maintained he is more than happy to play anywhere on the park as long as he's getting a blue jersey.

But he has been especially pleased that his last two outings have been in his preferred position.

Lafferty was selected to occupy the lone striker's role last weekend at Parkhead against Celtic ahead of Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd.

And when he climbed off the bench during the week against Forfar in the Scottish Cup, he was once again played as a forward.

"It's been great to play as an attacker," said Lafferty. "Obviously, it's the position I feel I am more suited to.

"I was delighted to be given an opportunity to play up front last weekend and the fact it was against Celtic made it even better from my point of view. It was a big boost for me that the manager trusted me to go out and play up front, on my own, in an Old Firm game.

"It can be difficult when you are up front on your own, but you've just got to work as hard as possible and put as much into the match as you can.

"But when Kenny Miller came on I also managed to win some flick-ons from wide on the left which helped us create more chances.

"So I was pleased with the way things went at the weekend. The draw keeps us on Celtic's tail and the title race is still wide open. And it was nice to play in attack again on Wednesday night when I came on against Forfar. It's now down to the gaffer to decide what he wants to do for tomorrow, but it would be great if I could continue in attack."

Tomorrow afternoon, however, Rangers will no doubt face a stiffer test when they entertain Kilmarnock.

It's an opportunity to move to the top of the league with leaders Celtic not facing Motherwell until 24 hours later at Fir Park.

And Lafferty said: "We've got to win as many games as possible now, and be in a position to take advantage when an opportunity comes to go back to the top of the league.

"It will be a difficult game against Kilmarnock, but hopefully we can play well enough to take the three points."

As well as chasing the title, Lafferty and his team-mates are still harbouring ambitions of winning the two domestic cup competitions as well.

With a League Cup clash with Celtic next month already secured, Rangers took another step closer to reaching the final of the Scottish Cup with a 4-0 win over third division Forfar on Wednesday night at Station Park.

And Lafferty was pleased to emerge from the clash without much difficulty. He said: "I think it's all about just making sure you don't slip up and secure your place in the next round of the competition when you play teams such as Forfar.

"They came out and worked their socks off in the first-half and made it difficult for us. We went in at the interval 1-0 ahead, but I thought our response in the second-half was good as we went out and scored another three goals and kept a clean sheet.

"Now we are into the quarter-finals and we've got a home match with Hamilton Accies. After reaching the final of the League Cup this season, it would be fantastic if we could do the same this season.

"But the league is our priority and we are all fully focused on facing Kilmarnock tomorrow."