Vaclav Cerny is used to his Christmases coming early back home in the Czech Republic.

But the Rangers wide man reckons the Light Blues need to be ready to work long and late if they’re to survive their gruelling winter workload. The Ibrox side have been pushed to the limit dealing with their twin duties at home and in the Europa League. But there’ll been no chance to put the feet up over the festive period and into January, with Gers set to squeeze 12 games into the space of five weeks before their next free Wednesday at the start of February.

It’s a huge change in pace for on-loan Wolfsburg winger Cerny, who admits he’s usually chilling out on the couch at this time of year. The 27-year-old was born in the Bohemian town of Pribram, an hour south of Prague. There it’s tradition to tuck into Christmas Dinner on December 24.

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This year, though, he was forced to wave goodbye to his loved ones during the festive frivolities as he joined the rest of Philippe Clement’s team to finalise preparations for Thursday's trip to St Mirren. But he knows that sacrifice will all be worth it if Gers can deliver a gift of three points to the punters heading to Paisley.

The former Ajax ace said: “It’s a nice period because this will be the first time I have played over Christmas and I’m looking forward to it. During my 10 years in Holland there was always a winter break and I enjoyed it in the Czech Republic too.

“It was the same in the Bundesliga, so this is the first year there has been no Christmas break for me. We have these conversations every day - but my wife understands. We have family coming over, you need to find a way to make it nice for the family as well. But it’s the job and, personally, I am looking forward to it.

“For me, Christmas is on the 24th, I know you guys here at the 25th but for us in Czech the tradition is the 24th of December. So I will just enjoy a quick session and spend the rest of the day with my family. The schedule is very tough, so we just have to be very focused on our recovery. We have to keep this flow because the team is doing well and we’re fit.

“We need every single player from the squad because it’s really killing. The body needs to be ready for it. In the end, that’s what you want because you want to go as far as possible in every competition you play. It’s what you want but it’s also tough.”

Up until a few weeks ago, it looked like Clement’s side would find themselves on the Ibrox faithful’s naughty list this Christmas. But they’ve rapidly improved their Premiership form and have finally climbed their way back up to second spot.

Leaders Celtic remain nine points in front but there’s at the very least a faint glimmer hope spreading through the support as they head into the new year. Brendan Rodgers’ team got the better of Gers again last week in the Premier Sports Cup final, but only after being pushed all the way to penalties.

The January 2 derby clash at Ibrox offers a shot at Old Firm revenge but Cerny insists he’ll only turn his focus to Celtic once they’ve negotiated today’s Saints showdown and the trip to Motherwell on Sunday.

Reflecting on that Hampden heartbreaker, Cerny said: “It wasn’t difficult for us to move on because in the end we are professionals. We know that every game is very important, which is true.

“The disappointment was there, a very big one, but in football you need to be able to move on quickly. We have done that, there are other games - two important games before that one. Lets focus on those games before the other one. There are two big games before that (the Old Firm) and a very tight schedule.

“Everybody in the dressing-room feels the same way, we need to be ready for the two big games before that one on the second of January.”

Cerny is doing his bit to keep Rangers in the race. He held his hands up after missing a couple of sitters in Rangers’ Europa League clashes against Malmo and Lyon. But he’s barely put a foot wrong since then and his winner against Dundee on Saturday was the 10th goal he’s hit so far this season.

He said: “It has been going great and I just want to continue with that. Most importantly, we are in a good flow as a team now so let's keep that going. It was very important for us to get a win over Dundee, get back on track with winning games - that was the main thing last weekend.

“My form is very much down to the manager, the relationship I have with him is great. I said before that the talk I had with him helped me so much and we have continued to do that. I want to do everything to give it back to him, the boys in the team and the club. Since I got here I have enjoyed it so much, even with the up and downs a few months ago. My only job this year is to give everything to this club, the manager and to those guys.”