race against the crock
Lee Wallace and Tom Rogic major injury doubts for Old Firm clash at Ibrox
LEE WALLACE is facing a race to be fit for the Hogmanay showdown with Celtic.
The Rangers captain pulled up in the closing stages of Saturday’s 1-0 win against Caley Thistle.
Gers manager Mark Warburton was forced to play the full-back up front
for the final few minutes after using his three subs.
The victory made it four league wins on the spin but Wallace is now struggling for the St Johnstone game on Wednesday night.
And he has a battle to be available for the clash with runaway league leaders Celtic on Saturday.
Warburton admitted: “We’ll need to see how he is. We thought it was an impact from the corner. We thought he had taken a bang. We’ll need to see how he presents.
“At first we thought it was cramp but he’ll need to be assessed further.
“If there is any danger then he won’t be risked.
“He’s our captain, he’s an international player – so of course he is a quality player who would be missed.
“Lee Hodson can go leftback and James Tavernier can go right-back so we have cover if we need it.
“We don’t know yet. He’s being treated and we’ll see how it goes.”
Warburton admitted his men were below par in the Inverness win – secured after Brad McKay’s early own goal.
Defender Clint Hill was voted Man of the Match and although Warburton insisted the 38-year-old could cope with three games in a week, he is considering making changes for the McDiarmid Park clash.
He said: “Clint is more than up to playing three games in a week. He might be 38 but fitness-wise he’s more than up for anything.
“It might be a case of we use him one game and not the next – but that would be about just freshening up the starting XI with three or four changes.
“The way he looks after himself is first class so I’ve got no fears about him.”