KRIS BOYD today insisted mounting speculation over the future of Rangers captain Barry Ferguson will not disrupt the Ibrox club's title challenge.

Boyd hit the target twice in a 3-0 victory over Inverness Caley Thistle yesterday which cut Celtic's lead at the top of the SPL table to five points.

The massive away win came just hours after Newcastle United boss Joe Kinnear confirmed he was interested in signing Gers midfielder Ferguson.

Kinnear's comments - which breach an unwritten rule among managers not to talk about players under contract at other clubs - have upset Walter Smith.

But Boyd who took his goals haul for the season to 20, says speculation over the skipper will not affect the Rangers players.

He said: "The talk before the game in the dressing room yesterday wasn't about Barry's situation, it was just about how to beat Inverness. I hope the club knock back any bids which come in for Barry. He is a big player for us and we want to keep him here and win things.

"Of course, we all know that in this market everybody at the club has their price. Whatever happens happens.

"But I am sure that Barry wants to stay here and play his football here. He has left before and, although he enjoyed his time down south, he came back.

"He has got himself back to the player that he was before. I am sure that the manager, as well as the players, won't want to lose him in the future.

"But at a club the size and stature of Rangers there is always going to be speculation about players. We are used to it by now. It doesn't affect us."

Indeed, Boyd, who has now scored 90 goals for Rangers in three years believes his side's title bid is firmly back on track.

The Ibrox men suffered a serious blow to their SPL hopes when they were narrowly beaten 1-0 in the Old Firm game in their final game of 2008.

That costly home defeat, which came after Boyd had missed a great scoring chance, left them trailing the Hoops by seven points.

However, the on-form hit man has revealed that nobody within the Gers camp wrote off their chances after that hugely painful defeat.

He stated: "We knew if we won the Old Firm game we would only be a point behind. Unfortunately we lost it and found ourselves seven points behind.

"But we were seven points ahead with three games in hand last season and lost it. We know, then, that whatever Celtic are ahead they are catchable.

"If I had taken my chance against Celtic we probably would have gone on and won the game. But we played just as well as they did and nobody at the club is downbeat. Having said that, we are still five points behind and that isn't good enough."

Rangers are now out of action until January 13 when they face St Johnstone away in the Scottish Cup.