Giovanni Van Bronckhorst emerged from a convincing 4-0 win at St Mirren sweating on the fitness of John Lundstram and Filip Helander ahead of a crunch week for Rangers.
Kemar Roofe headed the Light Blues in front in the second minute and then nodded in again in four added minutes at the end of the first half by which time the Gers had lost Lundstram and Helander to injury.
The former Leeds striker completed his hat-trick five minutes into the second half and Joe Aribo’s terrific finish on 76 minutes took the Ibrox outfit back to six points behind Celtic at the top of the cinch Premiership.
Rangers will prepare for the Old Firm Scottish Cup semi-final clash at Hampden Park next Sunday after they take on Braga in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final at Ibrox on Thursday night looking to overcome a 1-0 deficit from during the week, albeit Helander is not in the Gers Euro squad.
Van Bronckhorst told Sky Sports Scotland: “Lundstram felt a little bit in his groin so we have to assess it in the next days how he is.
“Hopefully he can make it for Thursday. Helander fell a bit awkward so he is having a scan now. Hopefully today or tomorrow we will know his injury.”
The Gers boss believes Roofe’s hat-trick – which helped towards a convincing win following two defeats – will give Rangers confidence for Thursday night.
He said: “- “I am very happy for him. We said before the game we needed to win this game and get back to winning ways and we did.
“We won 4-0, no goals against us and I think it gives us confidence for Thursday and the games ahead.
“But we’re also confident that we can get a win at home in Europe like we’ve showed in the past.
“There’s everything to play for, the semi-final of a European competition, so it’s something we need to fight for.”
After scoring his first Rangers hat-trick, Roofe insisted that he has already shown he is able to take on the burden of scoring during Alfredo Morelos’s absence through injury.
The former Leeds striker, who insists Rangers “must win at all costs” against Braga, said: “I think I have proved it already. Regardless of today or the last game.
“I have been here for nearly two years and I feel that I have proved this already.
“We knew St Mirren would put up a good fight but we managed to break them down and get the goals.”
Stephen Robinson’s side were consigned to the bottom six before they went into the game following results elsewhere on Saturday.
The Buddies remain in 10th place, six points ahead of second-bottom St Johnstone and Robinson admitted his record of one win in eight since taking over from Jim Goodwin was not good enough.
He said: “I ultimately take the blame, we have won one in eight since I came in. No excuses, we have to be better. I don’t look to blame anyone else, it hasn’t been good enough.
“A lot of teams are going into this post-split with a lack of confidence. So it’s up to me to get the boys going again, find a system which stops us conceding as many goals as we have.
“We don’t need to be pretty between now and the end of the season. We just have to try and get as many points as we can.
“We will go away and reset and aim for seventh place going forward.”
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