Rangers duo Kemar Roofe, Tom Lawrence to miss rest of season after undergoing surgery

Roofe has been hampered with injuries throughout this season and has been reduced to just six substitute appearances across all competitions.

The 30-year-old striker has contributed with two goals in 2023, including a strike in his last appearance for the club in a 3-0 away win over Livingston on February 18, but will now face a lengthy spell on the sidelines after undergoing hip surgery.

Lawrence, meanwhile, has not featured for Rangers since the end of August after rupturing his Achillies tendon, and he now required a second operation to rectify the problem.

The Welsh winger had made a bright start to the 2022-23 campaign, scoring three goals and providing two assists in nine games across all tournaments, but he and Roofe are now targeting a return from injury at the beginning of next season.

Head coach Michael Beale confirmed the news on Friday ahead of Rangers' Scottish Cup quarter-final clash with Raith Rovers on Sunday, telling reporters as quoted by Planet Sport: "Unfortunately, Tom Lawrence had another operation, a minor operation, which means he will be back in pre-season.

"Tom is a player that I really wanted to work with, a player that I knew as a young kid playing against my Liverpool (youth team) when he was at Manchester United and I followed his career.

"He is an international, he started the season ever so well and showed up well and then had a problem with his Achilles.

"He tried to come back. He was training on his own but had some discomfort so he went to see the specialist and it hadn't repaired the way he wanted and has had a minor operation and he will be back in time for pre-season.

"I will add on that, Kemar Roofe has had a minor operation, he will be back for pre-season as well. The decision was taken that, with a short amount of league games left, that it is better to get these boys ready for the new campaign and they will be important players for us, come pre-season, for sure."

Beale has also confirmed that Ridvan Yilmaz, John Souttar and Leon King are all available for selection after recovering from injury, but Steven Davis and Filip Helander both remain out with respective knee and foot problems.

The Rangers boss has insisted that he will name his "strongest team" against Raith Rovers on Sunday as the Gers bid to move one step closer to retaining the Scottish Cup.

"It will be the strongest team possible for the game," Beale added. "One or two bumps and bruises but nothing major. The boys have had a couple of days' recovery so we will train tomorrow and make our mind up on the team.

"Ridvan Yilmaz, John Souttar and Leon King are all available for selection as well so it is a difficult decision to cut from 21 to 18 for the weekend. It will be the strongest team. It is a quarter-final, it is important.

"The team set a standard in the last couple of games. As long as there are no issues, it will be close to those two teams who started and the other boys will have to fight in training to earn their minutes and if the game allows, we will give people minutes but this is a quarter-final so we are giving it the respect it deserves.

"We won the trophy last year so there has been an extra focus probably since pre-season. It is something that we want to retain. It is the last game of the season as well.

"We want to get to Hampden, firstly for a semi-final and then push on to the final and ultimately our aim is to win the competition."

Rangers' only defeat in their last 19 matches was at Hampden Park when they lost 2-1 to rivals Celtic in the Scottish League Cup final at the end of last month, while Raith - who sit seventh in the Championship table - saw their 14-game unbeaten run come to an end at the hands of Partick Thistle last weekend, losing 3-0 away from home.