Joe Garner: Younsters will step up in Nico Kranjcar's absence

Joe Garner believes Rangers' young guns can provide the spark needed in the absence of Niko Kranjcar.

Gers boss Mark Warburton received the news he was dreading earlier this week when doctors confirmed playmaker Kranjcar had torn his cruciate ligament.

The Croatian is now looking at a six-month recovery period and Warburton says he may look to bring in a replacement come January.

But Garner reckons the likes of 22-year-old Josh Windass, Jason Holt, 23, and Andy Halliday - still only 25 - proved in last week's 3-0 win over Kilmarnock that they possess the key tools to unlock opposition defences.

Garner said: "Niko's a top, top player and he brings a lot of experience to a lot of the younger lads that we do have here at the club.

"He will be a huge miss for us but hopefully he comes back stronger.

"It will be tough going without him but the young lads have stepped up lately.

"Josh has been playing really well, Holty and Andy are on form as well. The gaffer knows what he's doing but hopefully we should be okay with those guys in the team."

Garner became Rangers' most expensive summer signing when he arrived from Preston for £1.8million in August.

He looked uncomfortable in Warburton's trademark 4-3-3 set-up during his early days at Ibrox, but the recent introduction of Michael O'Halloran has given the Englishman the service from wide he craves.

His response has been back-to-back strikes against St Johnstone and Killie, and Garner insists there is more to come.

"It's always nice to score goals, especially being a striker," the 28-year-old said ahead of Sunday's trip to Ross County.

"The performances have been getting better as well, week in week out, and we will keep working hard on the training ground and hopefully the results take care of themselves.

"Would I like to start more? Definitely. That's down to the gaffer and (assistant manager) Davie Weir. They will set a team up to do what they think is best for the game.

"We have some top players here, top strikers. Whoever he puts out on the day will get the result.

"The way the team plays is a little bit different to what I am used to. It took me a little while to get used to different situations, different runs that I need to be making.

"But I am confident that I can score goals at this level and hopefully get another one at the weekend.

"We keep the ball a lot more than what I have been used to. We're a passing side and we create a lot of angles. A lot of the striking runs are based on angles which took me a little while to get used to but I am getting there and improving every week."

Last week's Killie victory was one of Gers' slickest performances of the season so far.

It helped move them up to second in the Ladbrokes Premiership table, but Garner says it is still too early to read too much into the standings.

"We have played well the last few games and we are looking forward to the game at the weekend," he said. "We will keep working hard and go on from there.

"We are not looking behind us. As a team we are looking up and hopefully we can put a little run together.

"We just take it game by game. Hopefully we can put three points up at the weekend against Ross County.

"We have watched a few videos of County and they have been a bit unlucky. We will go into the game confident after playing really well on Saturday and we are confident we can get a result up there."