STEPHEN Robinson last night stressed his close friendship with Kyle Lafferty will count for nothing at Fir Park on Sunday – and insisted the Motherwell defence will be more than capable of snuffing out the threat the new Rangers striker poses.

Robinson knows Lafferty well from his time working with the Northern Ireland squad and believes his friend can help the Ibrox club to challenge for silverware in Scotland and achieve results in Europe.

However, he is confident that his men can prevent the 67-times capped 30-year-old from scoring in their Ladbrokes Premiership fixture this weekend and record the first win over Steven Gerrard’s team this season.

The 6ft 4in centre forward is a handful for opposition defences, but Motherwell have proved themselves to be redoubtable opponents on many occasions in the past and their manager has no concerns about their ability to cope with his presence.

“Rangers felt they needed to strengthen in that position and Laff is a proven goalscorer at this level,” said Robinson. “He has history at Rangers before so I don’t think the move will faze him.

“He scores goals. It has been proven that he scores big goals at this level. We will have to be aware of him. But we will be. We have played against him many times. As a coach I know his strengths and I know his weaknesses. We have to make sure we stay on top of him.

“Laff is a good boy. He is a great lad and has got his career back on track again. I am sure he will be delighted with the move. But I need to concentrate solely on Motherwell not worry too much about Rangers.

“In terms of the physical aspect of Kyle’s game we will be up for that. We have to be up for that to match it. He has got other strings to his bow, as our players do as well. I am sure it will be a battle, but I’m sure it’s one that our boys can win.

“Laff is somebody I am close to and have a lot of respect for. But that closeness will go out the window on Sunday. We will make sure we are right on top of him or whoever plays for Rangers. It won’t just be the Kyle Lafferty show, we want to make it very much about Motherwell.”

Lafferty netted six goals for Northern Ireland during their successful Euro 2016 qualifying campaign to help end their 30 year wait to reach the finals of a major tournament - and Robinson revealed he has never let his team mates forget it.

“According to Laff, we definitely wouldn’t have got to the Euros without him,” he said. “Listen, you can’t deny he scored some very, very important goals for Northern Ireland and will be revered for a long, long time in the country for helping us along the way.

“I wouldn’t say we just got there because of Laff. There were a lot of other contributions to it, a lot of people who played a part in us getting to the Euros. But Laff played a big part in it.”

Robinson gave his compatriot training facilities at Motherwell before those finals in France to help him keep fit. “I hope he remembers that!” he said. “When he was getting ready for the Euros he came up and trained here. The English season had finished and he spent a week training with us.”

Robinson feels that Lafferty, who was notorious for getting himself into scrapes both on and off the park during his young years, has matured as he got older.

“He is somebody who has got a reputation that goes before him,” he said. “But any dealings I have had with Laff I have found him to be a good lad,” he said. “He has never caused me a moment’s bother.

“He works hard. When he goes onto the pitch he is second to none. I worked with him for six weeks solid in the Euros and he never caused me a problem. He has got a young baby now and has settled down and grown up.”

Robinson played against Gerrard during his time at Luton and is unsurprised at how well the Liverpool midfielder has done as Rangers manager despite his lack of experience as a coach.

But he is only caring about helping Motherwell, who have lost to Hibernian and Hamilton in the two Premiership games they have played in the 2018/19 campaign, rack up their first league win.

“I played against Steven a couple of times,” he said. “I have actually got one of his shirts. My boy is a big Liverpool fan so he has claimed that.

"But I am not getting too excited about Rangers. I am solely focused on Motherwell and how we can exploit them. I have watched Rangers four times and they are a decent side and they are a hard side to break down as they don't concede many goals

"We are aware of their strengths going forward, but I have focused very much on us this week. I have wondered if we are actually playing in this game with some of the coverage.

"I haven't concentrated on Gerrard and what Rangers are going to do and what players they have signed. We are aware of them and there is certainly no fear factor.

"It is all about us getting our first league win whether that be against Rangers or Hamilton Accies whoever it may be.

"That is Motherwell's motivation and we are well aware of what kind of game it will be and how tough it will be but we have boys who will stand up to Rangers. The game or occasion will not affect them. We will try and impose our way of playing on the game.”