The season-ending injury to Steven Naismith will be a major blow to both Rangers Football Club and the Scotland national team.

They are the sentiments of Scotland boss Craig Levein who has seen firsthand the improvement the 25-year old has made over the past few years.

Naismith's knee injury will keep him out of Rangers' tilt at a fourth-straight Scottish title and will also make him unavailable for any upcoming national team matches and Levein knows his presence will be sorely missed.

"Steven will be a big miss for Rangers and Scotland," he said.

"His improvement in the last couple of years has been phenomenal and I really feel for him.

"I know he did have a problem previously where he missed a lot of matches. But over the last few years he's got himself back in the Rangers team.

"He's been a regular for Scotland and it's a massive blow for him and for us.

"Looking back to the Aberdeen game, he was a bit late with the challenge and that was the point where he probably twisted his knee and his studs caught on Milsom's shin.

"At that point it was enough of a shift for him to tear his cruciate.

"I've torn my cruciate a number of times and it looked very similar.

"It's very painful, but you think afterwards you can just get up and run because it doesn't feel so bad.

"But of course, the knee's loose and unstable by that stage.

"When Steven went down I hesitated to say I knew exactly what the problem was.

"I hoped I was wrong."

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