Kemar Roofe ruled out of Rangers clash against Kilmarnock with injury
Rangers striker Kemar Roofe has been ruled out of the Scottish Premiership clash against Kilmarnock due to an injury, Michael Beale confirmed at his press conference on Tuesday (17 January).
The 30-year-old made his return from the sidelines in the Viaplay Cup semi-final where he netted an injury-time winner to send the Gers through to face Celtic at Hampden Park in the final.
However a shoulder injury ended Roofe’s participation in the game minutes later, and he is now set to continue his injury-ravaged season with at least two games on the sidelines.
Taking to Twitter, Heart and Hand podcast host Colin McMillan said: “Press Conference with Michael Beale time.
“Roofe will miss the next two games. Has had a scan but will see someone else too to make sure. It’s not a break but it’s a sore one. Need to see how he recovers. It’s a miss.”
Blow
Rangers are already short on striker’s with the injury to Antonio Colak, but this blow will come as an extra disappointment to Beale considering the impact Roofe had when returning against Aberdeen.
His goal was your typical poachers finish. The Englishman got on the end of Scott Wright’s low cross in the 94th minute with an easy looking finish, but the positioning was crucial.
Now that Roofe is sidelined, Beale will be forced to play Alfredo Morelos as a striker, unless he opts to play Fashion Sakala as a false nine. This won’t give the English manager much wiggle room to impact proceedings from the bench and could leave his side exposed if they were to end up chasing the game.
From Roofe’s perspective this comes as yet another untimely blow to his Gers career that has never left second gear. The forward is a brilliant goalscorer when fully fit, but has been plagued by a rotten run of injuries over the past 18 months.
In other Rangers news, an ex-FIFA official has given his verdict on the Ryan Kent controversy from the win over Aberdeen.