Beasley (centre) lasted only 15 minutes against St Mirren

Rangers' injury problems are mounting, with DaMarcus Beasley and Sasa Papac ruled out of Saturday's Scottish Premier League visit of Motherwell.

Both players sustained knocks in the 2-1 win over St Mirren and were added to an absentee list that includes Kyle Lafferty and Kenny Miller.

However, Beasley has not broken any ribs as was first feared and a swift recovery is expected for Papac.

Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor are currently serving a club-imposed ban.

"There's no break there for DaMarcus and that's good news, although we're not quite sure at this stage how long he'll be out for," manager Walter Smith told the club website.

"It was certainly a painful blow, so he'll definitely miss the game at the weekend.

"Sasa is another who'll be missing. He needed stitches on a cut and there's a bit of swelling there just now.

"Again, we'll wait to see how long the problem takes to clear but I'd be hopeful he will be able to return next week at Easter Road."

Lee McCulloch and Kirk Broadfoot missed the trip to St Mirren Park and are not expected to be fit in time for the clash with Motherwell, while Kevin Thomson is out until September following knee surgery.

Lafferty is recovering from ankle ligament damage and Miller will visit a specialist to tackle a hamstring problem.

American Maurice Edu was included in the Rangers midfield on Wednesday because of the absence of Ferguson and McCulloch and scored the clinching goal against the Buddies.

"I've said all along that we have one or two younger players in our squad who were going to take a little bit of time to settle in to play," Smith told BBC Scotland. "Kyle Lafferty and Maurice Edu are two of them.

"We've seen them improve as the season has gone on and that's the most important thing for us.

"Maurice has got to get used to Scottish football and the way the game is.

"I thought he was excellent against St Mirren, especially in the first half."

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