Rangers manager Walter Smith has revealed loan signing Richard Foster could make his debut against Hamilton on Saturday.

Kirk Broadfoot and Steven Whittaker were both ruled out of Scotland’s midweek win over Liechtenstein after picking up injuries while on international duty.

Smith will find himself short of personnel for the right-back slot if they both fail to recover in time for the lunchtime clash at New Douglas Park.

That means Foster – who joined on loan from SPL rivals Aberdeen on transfer deadline day – could be thrown into the action quicker than expected.

Smith told www.rangers.co.uk: “Richard is a player who can offer us versatility.

“I felt we had enough cover up front so that allowed us to let Andrius Velicka go up to Aberdeen and get playing again which is the most important thing for him.

“Richard can cover for a good few positions which is ideal for everyone and we would hope that he can do a good job for us.

“He might be involved this weekend because we have knocks to Steven Whittaker and Kirk Broadfoot who both had to withdraw from the Scotland squad.

“So we will need to see how they are at the end of the week before we make any decisions but if neither of these players make it then there is an opportunity for Richard to get a start right away.”

Rangers boast a 100% record in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League so far but Smith admits his players are not yet at their best.

He said: “We have made a decent start to the SPL in the sense that we had recorded three wins and we are happy with that.

“However, I don’t think we are quite into our stride. We have made slow starts in two of the matches and that’s something I hope we can rectify.

“We are now entering an extremely busy stage of the season so we must make sure we hit the ground running, starting with Saturday’s game at Hamilton.

“Accies are a team that seem to make a few changes in the close season so it takes them a little bit of time to get started.

“We have found them difficult opponents in the last couple of seasons. We have had to work extremely hard to get wins against them.

“However, we want to maintain our winning start to the season and that’s the most important thing.”

The Rangers boss has urged his side to forget about Tuesday’s Champions League opener against Manchester United until the job is done against Accies.

He added: “We all know that the Manchester United game is on the horizon but we can’t look at that yet. We must be totally focused on the Hamilton game.

“There is no doubt that we are all looking forward to it and after a disappointing campaign last season the boys are keen to do much better.

“They have all had good experience in Europe in recent seasons and they want to do well.

“It’s going to be a difficult start for us playing at Old Trafford but it’s one we all look forward to.

“That said, it will be after Hamilton that we start to look at that one.”

Paul Hanlon is desperate for Hibernian to hang on to Celtic target Anthony Stokes but confident they could cope without the striker.

The Old Firm outfit are on the trail of the former Arsenal and Sunderland man, who finished last season as the SPL’s second top scorer behind Rangers’ Kris Boyd with 23 goals.

Hanlon confesses any successful bid from Celtic would leave a huge void in the Easter Road team, but he is adamant the likes of Colin Nish and Derek Riordan could step into the 22-year-old’s scoring breach.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s meeting with St Mirren, he said: “It would be a huge loss. If you take 23 goals out of the team obviously it would be a big loss.

“But, even without the goals, his all-round play is good. He’s strong enough, he can hold the ball up and bring other players into the game.

“So obviously if we lose him it will be a big loss. But we’ve got enough players there that will take up that role as well.

“If Derek and Colin can lift both their games then it will be all the better for the club.

“Obviously, we would be happy to keep Stokesy at the club and still scoring goals, but if that doesn’t happen we’ve got enough to cover.”

Hibs have not won away to St Mirren since 1999 and, after an opening victory over Motherwell was followed up by last weekend’s 3-0 home defeat to Rangers, Hanlon is keen to see a return to winning ways.

He added: “All the boys are still spirited. It’s a hard place to go, they’re a good side. They’ve got a few new players this season, so it would be good to go there and try and put in a good performance and get the three points.”

Hearts boss Jim Jefferies felt the comprehensive 4-0 victory over Elgin City was the least his side deserved in the Co-op Cup on Tuesday night.

The SPL side eased into the third round with two goals in each half against the Third Division strugglers.

Eggert Jonsson and Kevin Kyle, making his first start for Hearts, netted before the interval with Arvydas Novikovas and substitute Scott Robinson providing gloss to the scoreline.

Jefferies felt his charges could have plundered even more, but the heroics of Steven Dunn in the Moray men’s goal kept the tally down.

He said: “It was one of those nights. Justice would have been 5-0 at half-time, but credit to the goalie, he kept it down to two-nothing.

“You are looking for that third goal to kill them off which came.

“I think then after that we knew the game was won and we were a bit slack, people tired like Kevin.

“We gave it away too much for my liking but wee Scott came on and got a great little finish. Four-nil was well justified I think.

“The lower-division clubs are looking for a shock but there was so much gulf in class. They did well to keep the score down to four.”

Given Elgin had conceded 13 goals in three opening league defeats to their season, a 4-0 result was not an embarrassment at Tynecastle.

Indeed, they had chances after the interval but Janos Balogh kept them at bay.

Elgin manager Ross Jack added: “Our goalkeeper did very well.

“They had a barrage of shots, but we defended well – we had to try and keep them out. Their first goal took a wicked deletion and the third.

“But they are a great team and they passed the ball extremely well, loads of energy, loads of pace, worked extremely hard.

“They gave our boys a bit of a lesson but I don’t think we were disgraced and gave a good account of ourselves, especially in the second half.

“We broke forward and had a couple of half-chances.”

Jermain Defoe wants to go under the knife having helped Tottenham reach the Champions League group stage for the first time.

Defoe will have groin surgery on Tuesday and is set to be out for between two and four weeks, missing England’s European Championship qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland and possibly Spurs’ Premier League games against West Brom and Wolves.

The 27-year-old has been dogged by the problem since the World Cup and his playing time has become gradually more restricted since.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp had hoped to schedule the striker’s operation for last Thursday but the German surgeon the club want to perform the procedure was unavailable until next week.

The delay has allowed Defoe to play a part in what he has described as “one of the biggest games of my career”: Wednesday night’s Champions League play-off round second leg against Young Boys.

“Everyone’s looking forward to it,” he said.

“We worked so hard to get here and we want to make the most of it and win the game, and get through to the group stage.”

Should Spurs overturn a shock 3-2 first-leg deficit on Wednesday night, their first group game will be on September 14 or 15, around the time Defoe is expected to be back from his operation.

“Everyone wants to play in the Champions League,” he added.

“On Tuesday nights, you don’t want to be at home watching Eastenders.

“You want to be at the Lane at playing against the great players in the world and at the fantastic stadiums.

“For a lot of the boys, it’s the first time playing in the Champions League and it’s great, especially when you put the hard work in and you feel like you deserve to be there on that stage.”

Redknapp must decide tonight whether or not to start with Defoe, who he admits is now only capable of playing for around 45 minutes.

The Spurs boss said: “It’s getting less each time – the pain’s getting worse.”

Redknapp admitted he may have got his tactics wrong against Young Boys in last week’s first leg, which saw him field an adventurous formation.

“Over there, it might have been a bit of a mistake,” he said.

“Maybe we set up too attacking looking back on it.”

But the 63-year-old insists that is definitely the way to go tonight, saying: “We’ve got to swarm all over them if we can from the start.

“I wouldn’t sit here saying we’ve got to be patient.

“I think we’ve got to get after them.”

Young Boys defender Scott Sutter hopes Tottenham once again take his side lightly after claiming they did so in last Tuesday’s first leg.

“I definitely think they did underestimate us – I think it’s understandable,” said boyhood Spurs fan Sutter, who described the prospect of playing at the stadium where he was once a season-ticket holder as “a special feeling”.

“A lot of bigger teams we play underestimate us.

“I don’t think the difference between a team like Tottenham, or a team in the top leagues, and a team in our league is that big any more, and that’s proved time and time again.”

Oldham boss Paul Dickov admits he has been hugely encouraged by the positive start to his managerial career.

The former Manchester City and Scotland striker, 37, was appointed at Boundary Park this summer with no previous managerial experience.

Yet he so far guided the Latics to an impressive seven-point haul in their opening three games and Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Charlton filled Dickov with much optimism.

Dickov said: “Charlton will be up there and that’s pleasing for us as not many people will go there and pick up points.

“As a manager I’m still finding my feet and learning every day and the boys are learning about me every day, but so long as they keep working their socks off I’ll be happy.”