Novo's shoulder injury has responded well to treatment

Striker Nacho Novo will return to Rangers' squad for Saturday's visit by Hamilton Academical after returning early from a dislocated shoulder.

And Rangers also say that midfielder Pedro Mendes will return to training after missing the victory over Hearts with a thigh injury.

Mendes will be a straight replacement for the suspended Kevin Thomson.

The 30-year-old Novo had been expected to be out for as long as two months, but a series of injections have helped.

Rangers manager Walter Smith was delighted at the news about the Spaniard, who picked up the injury in training nine days ago.

He was doing very well for us prior to the injury, so getting him back now is a big bonus for us Rangers manager Walter Smith

"We hope to have Nacho back on Saturday and that is better that we expected as we felt we were going to lose him for a long time with the shoulder injury," said Smith.

"The specialist in England has managed to fix him up and he is back in training with us.

"We had a young player receiving treatment from the same specialist for an ankle problem and the specialist happened to mention that he regularly treated rugby players for shoulder injuries.

"So we sent Nacho down and he has helped him enormously.

"He was doing very well for us prior to the injury and he has only missed a couple of weeks, so getting him back now is a big bonus for us."

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