L. Shankland is out after a hamstring tear, and Rangers now have to manage without their captain after he had scored 3 goals in 5 Premiership appearances this season. He had also scored 3 goals in his previous 2 games before the Motherwell injury. The setback comes with the forward in his best spell since arriving, and it leaves Derek McInnes looking at a thin attacking group.

Rangers' scoring loss

The return has been good enough to make the injury sting. Shankland averages a goal every 146 minutes stretching back to the start of last season for Hearts, which is the kind of output Rangers were banking on when they put him into the side.

Andy Halliday told bbc.co.uk: "If Lawrence Shankland was on the pitch throughout, he'd be walking away with a couple of goals."

Cammy Bell was just as blunt on the practical problem facing the club, saying: "You'd think Kelsy is going to be the one that will have to step up to the plate and score important goals because you can't rely on Shankland for now."

How long Rangers may be without him

Rangers say Shankland is out for a minimum of 3 months and could be sidelined for up to 4 months. The Daily Record reported that he is having a follow-up scan with a specialist in London to decide between surgery and natural healing. Derek McInnes said, "We've had confirmation he has had a grade 2c tear in his hamstring, very similar to the one he did at Hearts in January. He is now getting a follow-up scan with a specialist in London to determine if he has surgery or allows it to heal naturally."

McInnes also said the injury came on Shankland's "very first sprint after two and a half minutes standing about [due to VAR] breaking down."

The timing is awkward for Rangers because Youssef Chermiti is also expected to be out for a lengthy period after anterior cruciate ligament damage against Hibernian last month. That leaves the attack leaning heavily on options who have not been asked to carry this load for long stretches.

The minimum absence stretches into the winter and could go to 4 months, so Rangers will be working through the early part of the run without the striker who had just found his scoring rhythm.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →