Rangers caretaker boss Graeme Murty has confirmed that he expects midfielder Graham Dorrans to be out for at least 12 weeks following ankle surgery.
The 30-year-old last featured in a blue shirt on 25th October, coming off in the 22nd minute of his side's home draw against Kilmarnock.
While the caretaker manager insists that his team were cautious in their approach with the injury, as advised by the specialist, it did not work out and the player had to be operated on.
And now Dorrans will go through an extended rehabilitation programme, with Murty expecting the midfielder to be out for 12 weeks.
"It is a shame for Graham really", Murty told his club's official website.
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"We took him to see a specialist who recommended a conservative approach so we followed that for a couple of weeks and unfortunately it didn't take.
"It is a sore one for him to take but we believe we did the right thing by trying to be conservative and getting him back without the surgical option but that hasn't proved to be the case.
"We now move forward with an extended rehab programme for him. We are looking at him being out for 12 weeks.
"We will get him some time away with his family, get him re-energised and hopefully get him back fit, fresh and ready to go."
Another player missing with injury is veteran striker Kenny Miller, who was due to have a scan on his hamstring injury on Friday morning.
Miller was stretchered off early in the 15th minute in the team's match against Hibernian on Wednesday, a fixture they won 2-1.
"If you see the mechanism of it and you see how far forward he was as he was bending down it is a classic overstretch injury and it looked a sore one straight away", Murty said.
