THE antipathy that Rangers followers feel towards the Hibernian manager Neil Lennon isn’t shared by their manager Steven Gerrard.

Gerrard has an admiration for Lennon, whose resurgent side his team will face for the first time at Easter Road this evening, that is borne out of a few full-blooded confrontations in the centre of the park during their playing careers.

Yet, it is perhaps in the former Liverpool midfielder’s best interests to maintain cordial relations with the ex-Celtic ball winner given they are now residents of the same area of Glasgow’s city centre.

“Neil and I are actually neighbours,” he said as he looked ahead to the Ladbrokes Premiership match in Edinburgh at the Hummel Training Centre yesterday.

“We often bump into each other. I saw him at the under-21 match not so long ago. I know him well. We have a chat. The respect is there. You have got to respect all the managers in the league.”

Whether their harmonious relationship is strained by the latest instalment of a fixture that has grown increasingly acrimonious in recent years remains to be seen. “Hopefully I’m the noisy neighbour afterwards,” said Gerrard.

Hibs are the last top flight team that Rangers have to face under Gerrard, but he knows exactly what to expect and understands that his side, whose form has been inconsistent this season, will need to be at their very best to take all three points.

The Englishman appreciates the Northern Irishman’s men approach the game the same way that he did as a player.

“Neil and I used to go toe to toe on the pitch, be at each other’s throats and kick lumps out of each other because we were both winners and were both tenacious players,” he said. “Now we are on the side of the pitch we are probably not much different.

“Neil was always right up for it and I think he has taken that into his coaching and management style. He wants his team to be really aggressive and play on the front foot and that is how he was as a player as well.

“Neil loves winning and he certainly gets an extra buzz out of getting results against Rangers as we all know. Look, it is going to be feisty game. They are all going to be right up for it, their manager is going to be up for it, but so are we and so am I.

“They are a good team and they have got good players. If you disrespect this Hibs team or turn up at Easter Road and think it’s going to be a breeze you are in for a hell of a shock.

“We have got respect for the opposition and the way they play. They come out, they are really aggressive, they press, they have got a lot of energy and they have got good footballers. I think the key will be our defensive performance. We have to defend perfect to get the kind of result we want.”

The last time the two men met was in the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup back in 2003 when Celtic ran out comfortable 3-1 winners on aggregate after drawing with their opponents 1-1 at Parkhead and beating them 2-0 in the rematch at Anfield.

“They got the better of us that day,” said Gerrard. “Celtic were a very good and a very strong side and put in a really good performance. I competed against him a lot of times for Leicester as well.

“But it’s not about Neil Lennon, it’s not about me, it’s about the team and which team turns out with the best game plan that is successful on the day.

Gerrard bemoaned his side’s lack of ruthlessness in the final third during their narrow 1-0 win over Hamilton at Ibrox on Sunday and their need to improve up front, and the consequences if they don’t, were once again driven home to them at a team meeting yesterday morning.

“We debriefed the Hamilton game,” he said. “We had 22 corners in to the area, a lot of them good deliveries, we crossed the ball 40 times and we had 15 attempts on goal.

“We created enough to win that game more comfortably than we did. It’s important the players learn from that and find that killer instinct. When the chances are presented, go and finish teams off. If we can do that we can get players off the pitch and rest them for future games.

“I hope my players are up for it because it’s an exciting fixture and one they should be really looking forward to. There will be a great atmosphere there. It is a good place to go and play. It is a terrific challenge for us right now. I am sure they are going to be the ones who want to knock us off the top. We have to be ready for that.

“They have to be up for it. They have no choice. You need everyone to a man to be at it in a hostile environment. It will be similar to Hearts; the stadium is close to the pitch, every challenge will be contested and the referee will have a tough job because it will be two teams right at it.

“It will be a derby atmosphere. We need to be ready for it, but we are well aware of the challenge we face.”