Ally McCoist may have only been in charge of Rangers for two competitive matches but after a baptism of fire, dark clouds are already starting to hang over the boss ahead of their match with St Johnstone today.

The former Rangers striker made the step-up from assistant manager in the summer after helping Walter Smith lead the club to three Scottish Premier League titles in a row. However, the Ibrox side made a stuttering start to the defence of their league crown when they were held to an opening day 1-1 draw by Hearts last weekend.

And worse was to come with a 1-0 home defeat by Swedish champions Malmo leaving Rangers with an uphill task to qualify for the lucrative Champions League group stages.

Old Firm rivals Celtic, who won 2-0 away to Hibernian on the opening day, are not in action this weekend due to their participation in a friendly tournament in Dublin.

It means anything less than a win away to St Johnstone in the early kick-off match would see Rangers languishing behind the Hoops having played a game more.

McCoist’s task has been made harder by his struggle to bring in new players to Ibrox. He lost out in bids to bring Craig Conway, Kenny Miller, Neil Danns and Tomer Hemed to the club, leaving Lee Wallace, Juan Ortiz and Romanian defender Dorin Goian as the only new additions.

The Rangers boss aims to bring in more new faces, with Den Haag winger Wesley Verhoek and Dundee United striker David Goodwillie on his list of targets and German winger David Odonkor arriving on trial after leaving Real Betis.

And stand-in captain Steven Davis believes the threadbare Rangers squad would benefit greatly from more new recruits but admits the existing players should be performing better.

“That’s been the case for a while now,” he said. “The manager has been working hard to try and do that and hopefully he can.

“But we’ve got a good core of players who have seen us get a bit of success over the last couple of years, so we should be doing better in these games.”

McCoist will come up against former team-mate Derek McInnes when Rangers face St Johnstone, who held Aberdeen to a goalless draw at Pittodrie last weekend.

Programme

Today: St Johnstone vs Rangers; Inverness vs Hibernian; Kilmarnock vs Motherwell; St Mirren vs Aberdeen.

Tomorrow: Hearts vs Dundee United.

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