Martyn Waghorn aiming to be fit and firing for Rangers in cup semi

Rangers striker Martyn Waghorn believes he has a chance of facing Celtic at Hampden - but he will not play unless he is fully recovered from his knee injury.

Waghorn is ahead of schedule in his recovery from the problem he suffered during Rangers' William Hill Scottish Cup fifth-round win at Kilmarnock on February 16.

And he is focused on being fit for the semi-final on April 17.

Waghorn, who has scored 28 goals this season, told the Rangers website: The last six or so weeks have been tough, playing Dundee in the cup game and then knowing we have Celtic coming up - hopefully I can get fit and in contention for that.

If everything goes well then there is a chance I could be involved against Celtic but that is just if everything goes spot-on.

I have to be 100 per cent ready - I want to push myself but I don't want to push myself too far in case we get further on in the competition or rule myself out of the latter stages of the season. So I'll push myself but I have to be cautious too.

I'm a little bit ahead of schedule. It is going well but I don't want to say it is going great until I can go outside because I haven't tested it as much, we'll know more in the next week to 10 days about whether I am ready to come back.''

Waghorn looks certain to miss Rangers' title-clinching game given his team-mates could wrap up the Championship trophy on Saturday, when they face Raith Rovers in Kirkcaldy.

And right-back James Tavernier is relishing the prospect of such a major day in his career.

I think this promotion will be the highlight because I have been a part of it all season,'' Tavernier said.

The play-off final and going through half the season with Rotherham was a big one in my football career but being at Rangers, being a Rangers footballer and to play the whole season and then win the trophy will be up there at the top.

If we do win it at the weekend then we'll all be very happy but obviously we still have to finish off the season but we'll see what happens this weekend first.

There is a sense of excitement, we have played a lot of games this season and our rewards for it are showing with the points difference we have and where we are in the cup competitions.

We have to finish this season off strong and in the same fashion that we started it - that is our aim, to try and win everything possible.''