Defensive problems for Aberdeen ahead of Rangers match

Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass could be without three recognised defenders for Wednesday’s Premiership trip to Ibrox to face Rangers.

Injuries picked up by Calvin Ramsay and Declan Gallagher in Saturday’s morale-boosting win over Hibernian are likely to rule both players out.

The Dons are also waiting to learn the extent of Jack MacKenzie’s injury after the full-back was withdrawn from training late last week.

Glass said: “I would guess Wednesday might come too quickly as the two of them came off the park. I might be wrong and I hope I’m wrong.

“MacKenzie is going to be assessed on Monday. It looked like he hurt himself pretty badly on Thursday in training.

“Sometimes when you are under the cosh like this a little bit, things get thrown at you and you need to deal with it.

“I think the players showed against Hibs they are capable of that and they can play in multiple positions.”

Hibernian boss Jack Ross has backed his players to overcome what he has described as their stickiest spell under his tenure so far.

Saturday’s reverse at Pittodrie was their third consecutive defeat and Ross knows his men will have to rediscover their early season form if they are to bounce back against Celtic in midweek.

Ross said: “We have a group that, for 18 months now, have done things pretty well so this is probably the stickiest period they have had.

“It will be a test of character for the players but they need that unity about them and also to remember why they have had a lot of positive results in that period.

“We know that we are in a difficult period at the moment but we can turn that around very quickly as well.”

Ross added: “We have a game on Wednesday night in what will be a challenge against one of the top teams in the league, a team that is in very good form at the moment.

“But it is a game that I would expect to bring out the best in my players. Last week I was critical of them after the Dundee United match but this week there is a different feeling around it.

“I don’t think we were brilliant as we did not create enough but the willingness to do the basic parts of the game was a lot better and we will need to have a combination of the two on Wednesday to win the game.”