Michael Beale hopes for better luck on the injury front at Rangers next season as he confirmed Connor Goldson is out for 10 weeks.
The 30-year-old centre-back missed the 3-1 cinch Premiership win against Hibernian at Easter Road on Sunday with a foot injury picked up in the victory over Celtic last weekend.
Beale described the mentality of his side in winning as “absolutely fantastic” after Alfredo Morelos, Glen Kamara and Scott Wright were added to a long list of absentees, with Rabbi Matondo on the bench but unable to come on.
On-loan attacker Malik Tillman is back at Bayern Munich with a hamstring problem which has ended his season while Ben Davies, Ryan Kent, Borna Barisic, Antonio Colak, Kemar Roofe, Tom Lawrence, Steven Davis and Filip Helander were also missing.
On Goldson’s absence, Beale said: “He’ll be out for about 10 weeks. He had a funny land on his foot with a couple of minutes to go last week. He wanted to play on.
“Afterwards, we’ve had it scanned and seen a specialist so he’ll probably be about six weeks where he’s got to try and stay off it and then a four-week, five-week rehab back into the start of next season.
“All going well, he’ll be available for the first game of next season, albeit he might have a slightly modified pre-season compared to the others.
“This season seems to have been the worst season ever for the club, or certainly in my times associated with the club.
“Hopefully, that’s out of the way and next season we get a clean bill of health.
“We’ll look to strengthen every area this summer. There will be some new faces in to contribute.
“I think there’s a real clarity about the way we’re playing and I’ve no doubts that come the summer we’ll be in a stronger position squad-wise and have even more clarity after a good pre-season.”
Skipper James Tavernier celebrated his 400th competitive appearance for Rangers by beating Hibs keeper David Marshall with a 30-yard free-kick in the 33rd minute before attacker Ianis Hagi scored his first goal since January 2022, before his lengthy absence due to a knee injury.
Midfielder Todd Cantwell added a third in the 88th minute before Hibs defender Paul Hanlon reduced the deficit in added time.
Beale said: “The mentality of the group today was absolutely fantastic because the preparation couldn’t have been any worse.
“We lost Alfredo and Glen Kamara in training on Saturday, Rabbi was on the bench but wasn’t able to go on, Scott Wright we lost overnight as well.
“Scott Arfield came on but is playing through a problem, so actually coming into the game – and knowing Hibs are in such good form, unbeaten in four – I thought it might be an interesting day for us.
“I thought we were clearly the better team.”
Lee Johnson’s side remain four points behind fourth-placed Hearts and six behind Aberdeen, with European places potentially available up to fifth place in the league as long as Celtic beat Inverness in the Scottish Cup final
Hibs host Celtic on Wednesday before the Edinburgh derby against Hearts on the final day of the season and Johnson believes European football is still a possibility.
He said: “I think it’s obviously on, because there’s the potential that fifth is available as well.
“Celtic are a top team so you’d expect them to be super competitive in a cup final and all of us in the mix will be hoping that Celtic win that game for that very reason.
“But it’s going to be an important time for us over the next days and that’s why we need everybody.
“It needs to be a club performance as well as individuals and I include the fans in that.”
Kris Doolan pushed Partick Thistle promotion dream from day one – Kyle Turner
Kyle Turner revealed Kris Doolan targeted cinch Premiership football immediately upon becoming Partick Thistle boss as the Jags stand on the brink of a return to the top flight.
Doolan stepped up from his role as under-18 coach in February to take over, initially on a temporary basis, from Ian McCall and the turnaround in form since has taken the Maryhill side all the way to the play-off final.
The Jags are 2-0 up from Thursday’s first leg against Ross County – the victory extending their unbeaten run to 11 games – with the return game taking place in Dingwall on Sunday.
Thistle are the first team to finish fourth in the second tier to go all the way to the play-off final – during that run Doolan had to cope with the death of his father Lawrence – and they are looking to make more history by completing the job against the Staggies.
Malky Mackay’s side played most of the game in Glasgow with 10 men after 16-year-old defender Dylan Smith was sent off in the first half for denying Aidan Fitzpatrick an obvious goalscoring opportunity and midfielder Turner is hoping Doolan’s ambition is soon fulfilled.
The 25-year-old said: “The gaffer has been brilliant. He has had a hard time in the last few weeks and it has been tough for him.
“But when he came those were his first words, ‘let’s try to get to the Premiership’.
“He constantly goes on about it in the changing room, that we want to be looking up the way and how we want to get there.
“It is the top league in Scotland and he instilled a belief in us that we can do this and so far so good.
“Since the gaffer has come in we have a siege mentality and we keep going to see what happens.
“In five play-off games we have scored 18 goals and conceded three, so the gaffer has installed a belief in us. He wants us to be free and go and play our own game and it has worked so far.
“We were disappointed this season and we should have been challenging in the final games but we slipped up a few times and we weren’t happy with that.
“We finished fourth and we had to play six games in the play-offs. We felt the worst we should have finished was second.
“When we got past Queen’s Park, then the belief started to grow. We know Sunday will be tough and County will throw everything at us so we have to be ready.”
Turner believes the margin of victory over the Staggies, who finished 11th in the Premiership, could have been greater.
The former Stranraer and Dunfermline player said: “I thought we put on a good performance. We were actually disappointed we didn’t score more goals to be honest.
“We had a lot of chances in the second half but County defended well and they threw bodies in front of the ball to make it hard for us.
“If someone had said to us we would win 2-0 then we would have been happy.
“But the way the game went with them down to 10 men, with the chances we created, on another day we would have scored more. But overall though we are delighted with the win.”
Jordan White insists Ross County believe they can still stay in Premiership
Jordan White admits belief is key to Ross County’s quest to claw back a two-goal deficit against Partick Thistle on Sunday as they battle for cinch Premiership survival.
The Staggies lost 2-0 in the first leg of the play-off final at Firhill on Thursday night where they played for the majority of the game with 10 men after 16-year-old defender Dylan Smith was sent off in the 17th minute for denying Aidan Fitzpatrick, who had netted the opener for the Championship side, an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
Veteran Jags striker Brian Graham struck just before half-time with his 21st goal of the season to put Kris Doolan’s side in the box seat for the second leg in Dingwall.
However, Staggies striker White insists the tie is not over yet.
The 31-year-old said: “I don’t think I would have taken 2-0 at any time but under the circumstances I think we did well to come out the way we have.
“The first half isn’t how we wanted it to go but we have another game to put it right.
“The belief in the group is always there and there’s no point turning up thinking you can’t do it as you are on to a loser then. It is only half-time in the tie, that’s all it is.
“Other than the Kilmarnock game (3-1 defeat) I think we have performed pretty well since the split.
“It all comes down to Sunday now and we have to look after ourselves and put in a performance. No one in the dressing room wants a relegation on their CV.
“Partick have had a good night on Thursday but we have to take our medicine and move on.”
White believes home advantage could be “massive” as County look to turn the tie around against a Jags side who are unbeaten in 11 games.
He said: “Partick played well but coming up against 10 men for 75 minutes probably made it a bit easier for them.
“We can’t use it as an excuse but we know what we can do and we are confident going into the game.
“It was disappointing on Thursday but we need the fans behind us and they can be a big help, especially if we get an early goal.”
Hearts and Hibernian given SFA notice of complaint after incident at Tynecastle
Hearts and Hibernian have been served with a notice of complaint by the Scottish Football Association after disorder among their players and staff at the end of last weekend’s fiery Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle.
At full-time, following a clash that ended 1-1, two skirmishes erupted on the pitch, one directly in front of the two technical areas and another just moments afterwards in the centre circle.
Hearts goalkeeping coach Paul Gallacher and substitute shot-stopper Ross Stewart as well as Hibs manager Lee Johnson and unused substitute Rocky Bushiri were all shown red cards for their part in the post-match chaos.
And on Friday it emerged that the two clubs have been charged, alleged to have breached disciplinary rule 204, which states that: “All clubs and recognised football bodies shall procure that its officials, team staff, employees and players conduct themselves in an orderly fashion at all times during and/or after a match.
“In particular, clubs and recognised football bodies are responsible for ensuring that its officials, team staff, employees and players refrain from any one or a combination of the following: (a) becoming involved in a confrontation; b) conduct that is likely to lead to or to exacerbate or prolong a hostile or argumentative situation with players and/or team staff from the opposing team and/or match officials; (c) conduct that may otherwise incite disorder.”
The hearing for both clubs is due to take place on June 29.
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