RANGERS will make a late call on the fitness of defender Leon Balogun ahead of the Premiership clash with St Mirren.

The Nigerian international set Steven Gerrard's side on their way to victory over Brondby as he headed home his first goal for the club on Thursday night.

But he now faces a race against time to be available for the return to league action after hobbling off in the second half of the Group A fixture at Ibrox.

Gerrard said: “Leon’s form has been fantastic. Listen, he is a top international footballer with good experience.

"He’s played at a good level and was a really important signing for us.

“Obviously with the injury to Fil (Helander), you always like to try and keep a level of consistency in your centre back partnership.

“So he’s stood up really well. We’ll give him every chance for the weekend, he’s not ruled out just yet. He’s still a doubt.

"We’ll assess him as the day goes on and we’ll try and get him recovered.

"I’d still say he’s got an outside chance for the weekend but we also have to analyse the risk.

“So we’ll make a really late decision on that one but it’s probably 50-50 where we stand now. The rest have come through fine."

Boss Gerrard was able to welcome back Ryan Jack into the fold on Friday as he trained with the champions for the first time in seven months.

But Rangers will continue to be patient with winger Ryan Kent as he continues his steady recovery from the strain he picked up against Lyon last month.

Gerrard said: “We’ve had to slow down on Ryan slightly. He had a decent hamstring injury in there, in a real tricky area.

"When we’ve been really close to having him back with the team, we’ve just had a little signal that we have to come back off him for three, four, maybe five days.

“We are hoping to have him available around the Aberdeen game. If not, it will be the one after."