The boss knows that his side have shown enough in the seven games so far this season to be a match for anyone, anywhere. He has seen his team mature quickly into a much more resilient group gaining in experience and consistency and reaping the rewards.
"If we can't go to Ibrox with confidence after the start we've made, we'll never be able to," he said."If they believe they can go there and win, they've definitely got the ability."
"We are confident going into every game, and I asked them "Why do you need to change your attitude going to Ibrox?" You just have to work as hard as you have been, keep making the same runs and keep making the same passes. We're going to go there and try to keep our good start to the season going. You need to have some luck because Rangers have a bigger squad than us. Tony Mowbray said that Hibs could have been 3-0 down but they got the breaks because they worked hard, and they ended up winning 3-0."
Jefferies has watched his team of last year develop from youngsters into fully-fledged SPL performers able to take the knocks that life in the big league can throw. "We sat down with the players 7 or 8 games before the end of last season and did a report card with them. There was only one game in the whole season where we recovered from being a goal behind to take anything out of the game. I said to them at half-time against Dundee United when we were one down, "Here we go again, will I go to the referees room and just chuck it and get home early?", but they said "No, we'll do it this time" and they equlaised and got the draw. This season we've already come from behind against Inverness twice, Stirling Albion and Dunfermline and recovered to win the Aberdeen game after they had fought back level. It shows me that they've taken on board where the problems were last season, that they didn't have the resilience or the character to bounce back. There's been a massive improvement."
Jeffereries also believes that a little of the Old Firm's "Invincibilty Shield" is cracking, but he knows his side face a major test. "Psychologically you get a boost when Rangers and Celtic are dropping points. Normally at this stage of the season you're moaning at the gap that the two have created over the rest, so it's great for Scottish Football that it's different this year. There's a points gap between them and Hearts which they'll be trying to close and it can be daunting there with a full house. We know we'll have to be well organised."