Rangers boss Walter Smith insists he simply does not have enough players in his squad to afford the luxury of rotation. Smith fielded an almost full-strength side in the 2-1 defeat of Queen of the South in the Co-operative Insurance Cup.

"We've really only got that squad," he said.

"We haven't got many more after that team and the lads that are sitting on the bench, "We have three injured just now. John Fleck, who I thought did okay at Kilmarnock on Saturday, was out and that was about it.

"There's not a lot of rotation possible."

Smith insists he was not taken by surprise by the challenge the Dumfries side posed. He said: "I was pleased when Nacho got the goal but I think it was the cup tie that we expected to have.

"We started well in the first half-hour then there was a little bit of slackness in our play.

"Once Nacho got the second one, I thought that would give us a bit of breathing space but it was breathing space that we needed with them scoring late in the game and they possibly deserved it with the amount of opportunities that they created in the second half.

"But we expected a difficult game and they deserve a lot of credit."