Davis hopes Dutch despair is thing of the past ahead of facing Feyenoord

Rangers midfielder Steven Davis insists he has put his Dutch despair behind him as he prepares to take on Feyenoord.

The Northern Ireland skipper missed a penalty against Holland earlier this month as his nation passed up a chance to secure automatic qualification to Euro 2020.

While Michael O’Neill’s side still have March’s Nations League play-offs as a back-up plan, Davis is now turning his attention to firing his club side into the last 32 of the Europa League.

The Ibrox men can extend their European campaign beyond Christmas for the first time since 2011 if they better Porto’s result at Young Boys when they run out at De Kuip.

Thursday’s showdown in Rotterdam might be an early reminder of last week’s spot-kick miss against the Dutch but Davis has already shrugged off his disappointment.

He said: “Yeah it was disappointing for me on the night.

“I don’t think it would have had any effect in terms of qualification for us from the group automatically.

“Unfortunately, these things happen. But, I have recovered from that.

“I don’t think we will take our eye off the ball (in the Europa League). We have put ourselves in a strong position in the group, but we still realise we are playing against good opposition with quality players.

“So there is still work to be done and hopefully we can replicate the performance tomorrow night that we have shown already in the group games, and hopefully that will be enough to get us the result.”

“It would certainly be a big step in the right direction if we can reach the last 32, and since the qualifying games it is a journey we have thoroughly enjoyed testing ourselves against teams of this quality and we want that to continue for as long as possible.

“We are determined to see that through in the final two games.”

Former Rangers boss Dick Advocaat will be in the home dug-out.

He was also in charge of Zenit St Petersburg when they ended Rangers dreams of lifting the Uefa Cup back in 2008 with a 2-0 win in the Manchester final.

And Davis – part of Walter Smith’s team that day – would love to get his revenge.

“Certainly I have good memories of the team that Dick managed when he was in charge of Rangers,” he said.

“They had a lot of top quality players which he brought to the club at that stage.

“I don’t know Dick personally. He was obviously the manager of Zenit when we played them in the final, but hopefully we will get a better result than that tomorrow.”