THE tide of injuries at Ibrox has turned with the news that Alan McLaren will make his comeback to the Rangers first team tonight when he plays for the champions against Kilmarnock at Ibrox.
A knee injury which twice has required surgery has kept McLaren out of football since the Scottish Cup final last May. The waiting is now over.
``McLaren will play at some stage,'' said Rangers manager Walter Smith. ``Although he has only played in one reserve match, he has been training for the last month and is not short of football practice.''
And the injury news at Ibrox gets better. Ally McCoist, who limped off with what looked like a serious injury on Saturday, has a chance of playing tonight, but if he does not make it, he will play on Saturday against Hearts.
Even Craig Moore's hamstring pull appeared worse than it is, and he will be back in a couple of weeks. Defender Scott Wilson is added to the squad.
``This is our final outstanding fixture, and it is important we get a win to increase our lead at the top of the league,'' Smith said.
``Kilmarnock always play aggressively against us, and in the last match we played, they led 1-0 at half-time,'' he said. ``It took a terrific second half performance to beat them and I will be looking for a repeat of that.''
The return of McLaren to a defence which has uncharacteristically leaked goals recently, is welcome news for Smith as he faces another period crammed with important fixtures.
Ironically, the defender's return to the first team has been hastened by the club's inability to arrange reserve matches.
``If I could have fixed up a reserve game, he would be playing in that, but he's as well playing against Kilmarnock as waiting for one to come along,'' Smith said.
By contrast Kilmarnock, still hampered by injuries and
suspensions, only have 15 players available for tonight's game. Their good news is that they are the same 15 who beat Hearts on Saturday, and caretaker manager Bobby Williamson will field the same starting 11.
``I was very pleased with the attitude of the team. They fought hard throughout the match on Saturday and the result has given everyone a boost,'' he said.
As Williamson tries to build a series of results which will get him the manager's job at Rugby Park on a permanent basis, it seems unfortunate that tonight will be the first of two matches against the champions within a fortnight. The caretaker does not mind.
``You've got to play all these teams just like everybody else, and in a 10-team league, it's not long before you meet again,'' he said. ``As long as we put in the same effort as we did against Hearts I will be happy.''
Kilmarnock are likely to keep things tight tonight, despite the criticism Dunfermline received for their defensive display on Saturday.
``I don't understand why Bert Paton got so much stick for coming to Ibrox and defending,'' Williamson said.
``His team had lost 11 goals against Rangers in two games and he was bound to try to tighten things up.''
``I don't hear many people complaining when Rangers go to Parkhead and play with just one man up front, so I do not see why teams which do the same to them receive so much criticism.''
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