IT’S going to be difficult, that’s Liam Kelly’s honest assessment of the task that lies ahead as Motherwell welcome Rangers this afternoon.

But it’s not likely going to be as emotionally draining as his evening in the 2-2 draw with St Mirren in midweek.

Kelly, who blames himself for Eamonn Brophy’s first goal, thought he’d redeemed himself with a stunning penalty save only for it to be retaken and Brophy to lash home a leveller.

He was furious, and it appears he had a point with his back foot looking to still be on the line despite Bobby Madden taking advice from his assistant and ordering a retake.

“At the forefront of my mind is the first goal, it was a really bad decision from me to come for that ball. I got attracted to the ball and I make Brophy’s decision really easy”, admitted Kelly.

“I’ve not seen the penalty back yet, the decision for St Mirren, so I can’t comment on it.

“But I’ve seen myself when his foot touches the ball and I think I’ve clearly got one foot  on the line.

“I made a mistake for the first goal and I think the linesman has made a mistake for the penalty and that’s just football.

“It was really disappointing because I felt as though I gave St Mirren the impetus to come back into the game by the first goal so I felt I had kind of rectified that with the penalty save.

“But we all make mistakes, I’ve seen the penalty back and know I’ve got one foot on the line, it’s really disappointing but what can you do?

“I spoke to the linesman and he said: ‘Listen Liam if I’ve got that wrong I’ll apologise’.

“And I said ‘See if I’ve got it wrong I’ll apologise to you for giving you stick’, it’s not that big a deal we’re going up the road to do the same thing anyway, whatever the score was.

“He’s got it wrong in that moment, I got it wrong for the first goal, we make mistakes, we’re all human beings, it happens.”

Hearing Kelly’s brutal self-verdict for St Mirren’s opener would lead you to believe he had a poor game, but it was far from it, just seconds from the final whistle the stopper make three incredible reflex saves to claim a point for his team.

And if Wednesday night was tough to take, it doesn’t get any easier with Steven Gerrard’s Rangers arriving at Fir Park. But it’s a game Kelly insists he’ll relish.

“I want to have a positive impact on the team, sometimes I play rubbish, like I say I’ve not been good for the last three weeks but it’s a great game and a good challenge for us.

“We drew with them 1-1 here in my second game last season in a really good game so we can be close, we probably need them to be off it a wee bit and be at our absolute best to get something from the game.

“We go with a positive mindset and try our absolute best, that’s all we can do.”

Motherwell have already taken points off Rangers with a 1-1 draw at Ibrox last month when Kaiyne Wollery’s strike cancelled out Fashion Sakala’s opener which appeared to be offside – something Kelly hasn’t forgotten.

Quizzed over the draw last time at Ibrox, Kelly said: “By the way that should’ve been 1-0 because the goal was offside from Sakala, I can remember it.

“I take that back, it shouldn’t have been 1-0 because you don’t know if the game completely changes. You don’t know if it finishes 0-0 or if Rangers go and score three after that – that’s just my automatic reaction.

“But we’re well aware of how hard it’s going to be. It’s the best team in the country coming to our place and we want to make it really difficult for them. But we’re in a good place, I feel as though we’re fine.”

It’s been mooted this year that Rangers are not quite playing like the unbeaten side from last season, with the opinion they can be really pushed this season but Kelly insisted their league position shows their quality.

“That is the feeling that’s going about” he admitted. “But when you’re top of the league and you’re two points clear and there’s a feeling you can be got at then it’s not a bad place to be in is it?

“I wish we were top of the league and people were saying we could be got at. I’m a big fan of their players, they’ve got about four brilliant players for every position. It’s going to be a really tough game.”

The depth of the Ibrox squad is no clearer to see than in goal with Allan McGregor and Jon McLaughlin sharing the gloves this term.

But Kelly knows it doesn’t matter who is given the nod in goal because of the quality in the goalkeeping ranks.

“It’s a not bad rotation!", he said. "Two great goalies. McGregor speaks for himself and I’m a big fan of Jon McLaughlin.

“No matter who plays it won’t make that much of a difference, it’ll still be a top quality goalkeeper and it’ll be really difficult for us to get some balls past them.”