Glasgow Rangers targeting ‘four or five players’ to add for Premiership return

'We'll need more numbers next year' admits Rangers manager Mark Warburton as the club run away with the Scottish Championship title.

Glasgow Rangers manager Mark Warburton admits he is aware of the need to strengthen ahead of a potential return to the Scottish Premiership next season.

Warburton’s men defeated Queen of the South 4-3 at Ibrox on Saturday to move themselves one step closer to the Championship title.

Having raced into a commanding 4-1 lead, with three goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half, Rangers conceded twice to make it a nervy finish despite dominating large chunks of the game.

Similarly, last week Rangers were quick out of the traps to score two early goals but defensive lapses cost them dearly, as they went on to lose 3-2 against Falkirk.

Despite perceived defensive frailties, Warburton is keen to add across all areas of the squad, not just in the backline.

He said: “In defence, Rob Kiernan has been outstanding, as has Danny Wilson.

“We will add one more because we’ll need more numbers next year but we’ll look for quality to add to the group.

“We’ll add four or five players to the group overall.”

Former Brentford manager Warburton enjoys working with a smaller squad and only named five substitutes on the bench for the visit of Queen of the South.

Many of Rangers’ younger players were on international duty with their respective Under 21 squads which left the Ibrox boss without first-team stars such as Billy King and Barrie McKay.

“We’ve got eight or nine boys away with the international squads,” said Warburton. “We’ve got a tight squad but we always try and help out the international teams.

“But when we lose that many boys it leaves us very light in numbers. I don’t want a bench filled just for the sake of it.

“I want to make sure that to get on a Rangers bench, you have to earn it. It’s a big honour.”

Rangers made blistering starts to both halves, pressing well and hitting their opponents with early goals.

January signing Harry Forrester was one of the players to take advantage of the fast start and was delighted to open the scoring for the Glasgow giants after just 14 minutes.

He said: “It was good and to get on the score sheet was great too obviously.

“We’ve got to come flying out of the box as sometimes teams sit back towards the end of matches.

“So if we can get the early goal then it can settle everybody and we can play our stuff.”

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport