Rangers defender Bougherra ruled out of final by injury

Published on Saturday 14 March 2009 18:46

MADJID Bougherra has been ruled out of this afternoon's Co-operative Insurance Cup final. The Algerian central defender failed to train with the rest of the Rangers squad on Friday and Saturday and according to sources within the club he will not feature as the Old Firm contest the first major silverware of the season at Hampden.

The former Charlton player had been looking forward to the first major cup final of his career but he sustained a calf injury during last weekend's Scottish Cup match against Hamilton and has finally had to admit defeat. The big worry for Rangers manager Walter Smith is that Kirk Broadfoot, his possible replacement alongside David Weir at the heart of the defence, is also a doubt.

The club remain hopeful that the former St Mirren defender could overcome a foot injury, but if he misses out Rangers will require a significant re-jigging of personnel, with either Lee McCulloch or possibly Christian Dailly asked to help shore up the rear.

Broadfoot trained with his team-mates yesterday, but the coaching staff were waiting until this morning to see if he suffered any reaction to that before finalising the starting line-up.

One man who is unlikely to feature in the team is Kris Boyd. The club's top striker reacted angrily when he was dropped for the 5-1 Scottish Cup defeat of Hamilton and was sent home from Murray Park earlier this week as a result. Although he has resumed training with the squad, he is still expected to be sidelined as Rangers seek to retain the trophy his goals helped them win last season.

Meanwhile, Walter Smith has laughed off suggestions that assistant manager Ally McCoist will take charge of Rangers this afternoon. The popular belief has been that Smith has stepped aside for the club's cup-ties to allow McCoist to gain experience. Not so, according to the Ibrox manager. Smith offered a flat "no" when asked this week if the Hampden derby decider would be McCoist's domain.

"It's not complicated, I let him do the team talk," Smith said. "Typical McCoist, he's doing everything now. I said to him the other day he was trying to take over, but I only let him have a little bit of leeway. In fairness to him, he's not done too badly, never losing a cup tie, touch wood. He'll be back in his normal position on Sunday."