Aberdeen v Rangers: Joe Sise given more time to try and win January move to Rangers

Sise has been training at Murray Park all week, having been released from his contract by Halmstads following their relegation from the Swedish top flight. The 6ft 4ins front man has made a positive first impression on McCoist, who is now looking to assess him more closely in a closed-door friendly next week.

“Joe has looked fine, absolutely fine,” said McCoist. “To be fair to him, it is difficult because he has only had a couple of days of full training with us. But he doesn’t look out of place. He looks comfortable and he knows where the goal is.

“We are hoping to arrange a bounce game next week for him to play in. Hopefully he will stay next week and we will be better placed to make a decision. I am not entirely sure about the contractual situation but I believe we could get him in now, although it might be January before we could play him. However, we are a wee bit away from that at the moment.”

McCoist hopes Rangers are closer to agreeing a new contract with one of his established strikers after Kyle Lafferty’s agent held talks with chairman Craig Whyte over an extension to the Northern Ireland international’s current deal which expires in 18 months’ time.

“I know they spoke on Thursday, but I haven’t had a chance to speak to either Craig or Kyle about it yet,” he said. “Hopefully there won’t be any problems.”

Rangers have also offered a new contract to 22-year-old midfielder Jordan McMillan who made his only first-team appearance so far for the club this season in their 3-0 win at Motherwell in August.

“We have offered Jordan an extension to his contract,” confirmed McCoist. “As yet, Jordan’s representatives haven’t got back to us, so I haven’t heard, but I would imagine we would hear in the very near future.”

McCoist, meanwhile, revealed that on-loan Arsenal defender Kyle Bartley is closing in on a comeback after being sidelined since August. The 20-year-old is back in training following hernia surgery and could feature in the closed-door friendly being arranged for Sise. Rangers travel north to take on Aberdeen in today’s lunchtime fixture and Pittodrie midfielder Isaac Osbourne is optimistic the Dons can continue their strong home run and end Rangers’ 100 per cent away record in the SPL.

Osbourne, eager to make it three home wins in a row, said: “I’ve heard we’ve got a very good record against Rangers at home. We want the three points and we’re looking to go out and get them on Saturday. We’re not going to be happy with a point.”