Mark Warburton: Rangers close to signing a couple of players

Rangers boss Mark Warburton hopes to wrap up his January transfer dealings within the next week.

Michael O'Halloran looks likely to be the first Ibrox arrival after being left out of the St Johnstone line-up that faced Hamilton.

Perth boss Tommy Wright dropped the 25-year-old after admitting the forward was not mentally right'' following two failed bids from the Glasgow giants.

Reports in England have suggested Brentford's Toumani Diagouraga is also preparing to travel north after Warburton finally managed to agree a price for the holding midfielder.

But the Gers manager was again staying tight-lipped on the progress of both those deals after Saturday's 4-1 stroll against Livingston.

However, he did admit he was hopeful of seeing new faces checking in soon.

Michael is a St Johnstone player and I'm never going to talk about another team's players,'' Warburton said after the comprehensive victory which moved his sides six points clear at the top of the Championship.

I'm not going to talk about Toumani either. He's a Brentford player and we will only ever comment once any business is completed.

However, we think we are close with a couple of players. A lot of work has gone on in the background but hopefully we will get the deal over the line in the coming days.''

But Warburton - whose side have now hit 19 goals in their last four games - insists Gers could go the distance with the players they have now if forced to.

The Englishman said: I've told the players I'm happy with the squad now. If we don't get another player in during January, the squad is more than strong enough.

If we can get one or two in who we think can add some value in key areas then we will do it.''

A rampant first-half display helped Gers put pressure on title rivals Falkirk and Hibernian, who play on Sunday.

Danny Wilson headed the hosts ahead at a snowy Ibrox after goalkeeper Marc McCallum failed to hold a Martyn Waghorn shot.

Waghorn then continued his fine goalscoring season with two more goals - a penalty and a close-range lob either side of a composed Kenny Miller strike.

That put the Light Blues four up at the break but they allowed Liam Buchanan to pull one back for the Lions 10 minutes into the second half as they failed to maintain their blistering first-period tempo.

Andy Halliday saw his stoppage-time spot-kick saved by McCallum, but Warburton said: It was a really good first half.

It was difficult weather conditions for both sides but I thought we played excellently in the first half, creating chance after chance.

We dominated the ball and could have scored more.

We wanted to come out in the second half and match that level but it was a bit lacklustre, a bit flat. However, the job was done by half-time.''

Livingston boss David Hopkin said: We were overwhelmed in the first half. Rangers started with a great tempo and we struggled to cope. In the first 20 minutes it could have been any score.

But I changed things at half-time and asked for a performance. I got it so overall I'm delighted.''